THE OIL SHALE 
INDUSTRY 



OR CLIFTON ALDER SON 




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COLORADO OIL SHALE 



Frontispiece 



THE OIL SHALE 
INDUSTRY 



BY 



VICTOR CLIFTON ALDERSON, Sc.D. 

PRESIDENT, COLORADO SCHOOL OF MINES, GOLDEN, COLORADO 



WITH FIFTEEN ILLUSTRATIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS 




NEW YORK 

FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 



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Copyright, 1920, by 
Frederick A. Stokes Company 



All Rights Reserved 



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m (6/920 



PREFACE 

To describe an industry which is still in its 
primary stage is not an easy task. Without defi- 
nite commercial results to record, without well 
established processes to describe, and with infor- 
mation on all phases of the subject widely scat- 
tered and known only to the particular persons 
interested, the preparation of the present volume 
has been difficult. However, the recent striking 
demand in industrial life for oil in its many forms, 
the failure of domestic wells to meet this demand 
in full, the rapid advance in the price of petroleum, 
the warning of geologists and government experts 
that the underground supply of oil cannot much 
longer be depended upon to supply the ever 
increasing demand, all unite in pointing unerr- 
ingly to the one permanent supply of the raw 
material which we have — the deposits of oil shale. 
Whether we wish it to be so or not, we shall soon 
be forced to resort to the oil shales for our supply 
of oil. Regardless of the number and complexity 
of problems to be solved in establishing the oil 
shale industry on a commercial basis, yet they 
must be solved, and it remains for the American 
mining engineer, chemist, and inventor to provide 
the solution, else our boasted industrial life will 



vi PEEFACE 

vanish. The successful retorting of oil from shale 
and the establishment of the oil shale industry on 
a permanent and profitable basis is the great 
problem of this decade. No other phase of our 
industrial life can compare "with it. The finger of 
fate points towards it. 

Methods of investigation, both in the field and 
in the laboratory, are far from being standard- 
ized. The character of the shale, methods of 
attack, as well as the skill of the experimenter, all 
combine to make reports of results vary widely. 
It is hoped that in the near future the scientific 
principles underlying the treatment of oil shale 
will be so well understood and the methods of 
work so well standardized that a proper compari- 
son of results may be made. In the present state 
of the industry this is impossible. 

In order to meet the widespread demand for 
information of a comprehensive nature this vol- 
ume has been prepared as a modest contribution. 
My thanks are due to the many workers, widely 
scattered, who have contributed in no small degree 
to our sum total of information, but especially are 
my thanks due to Professors Albert H. Low, and 
Clayton W. Botkin of the Department of Chemis- 
try; and John C. "Williams, Assistant Director of 
the Department of Metallurgical Eesearch, of the 
Colorado School of Mines; also to my secretary, 
Miss Zelda Margaret Moynahan. 

Victor C. Aldeeso^. 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Peeface v 

CHAPTER I 



The Dawn op a New Industry 



The Dawn; Present Condition of Petroleum In- 
dustry; Report of the United States Bureau of Mines; 
Well Production; Status of the Oil Fields; Prices of 
Crude Oil; New Uses for Petroleum. 



CHAPTER II 

Nature, Origin, and Distribution of Oil Shale 15 

Nature; Origin; World-wide Distribution; Scotland; 
Description of the Scotch Works; Isle of Skye; England ; 
Canada (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Quebec, New- 
foundland); France; Australia; Transvaal; Brazil; 
Sweden; Uintah Basin; Colorado; Nevada; Montana. 

CHAPTER III 

The History of Oil Shale 33 

Early Investigations in Scotland; Present Develop- 
ment in the United States; Elko Shale Plant; Catlin 
Shale Products Company; Colorado: Utah. 



viii CONTENTS 



PAGE 



CHAPTER IV 

Mining Oil Shale 46 

Methods; Breaking; Mining Regulations; Testing 
Oil Shale Ground; Leasing Oil Shale Ground. 

CHAPTER V 

Retorting and Reduction 52 

Nature of Shale Oil or Petroleum; Importance of the 
Retort; Chemical Principles; Destructive Distillation 
of Oil Shale; Fundamental Requirements for a Retort 
(Scientific, Economic); Scotch and American Shales 
Compared; Pumpherston (Scotch) Retort; Condenser; 
Ammonia Scrubber Plant; Gasoline Absorption Plant; 
Ammonia Liquor — Sulphate of Ammonia Plant; Gas 
(Analysis of), (Heat Value Produced); Gasoline; Com- 
plete Plant. 

CHAPTER VI 

Experimental and Research Work .... 81 

Need of Experimental Work; Experimental Work 
of J. B. Jones; Tests of Dragon, Utah Shales; United 
States Geological Survey (Field Distillation, Summary 
of Tests, Dry and Steam Distillation); Colorado 
School of Mines (Method of Analysis, Tests, General 
Investigations, Chemical Investigations) ; Black Shales 
of the Eastern States; Refining Tests; De-polymeri- 
zation. 

CHAPTER VII 

Economic Factors 116 

Investment Value and Income; Shale Oil and Well 
Oil per Square Mile; Value of Oil Shale Land; Location 
of Oil Shale Claims; Scotch Dividends; Cost of Mining, 
Retorting, and Refining; Shale Oil Versus Well Oil; 
Economic Conditions; Capital. 



CONTENTS 


ix 


CHAPTER VIII 


PAGE 


Summary 


. . 130 


Significant Features. 




CHAPTER IX 




Opinions 


. . 139 



Franklin K. Lane; Van. H. Manning; George Otis 
Smith; Chester G. Gilbert; Joseph E. Pogue; Dorsey 
Hager; Guy Elliott Mitchell; Dean E. Winchester; 
Walter Clark Teagle; M. L. Requa. 

CHAPTER X 

The Future 158 

Future; Possibilities of the Oil Shale Industry; Oil 
Shale Comes into Its Own; An Acute Situation; For- 
eign Supply; Fundamental Characteristics of the In- 
dustry. 

Bibliography 163 

Index 171 



ILLUSTRATIONS 

Colorado Oil Shale Frontispiece 

FACING 
PAGE 

Oil Shale — General Formation. Colorado . 10 

Colorado Oil Shale . . 11 

Paper Shale. Colorado 30 

Massive Shale. Utah 31 

Utah Oil Shale . 38 

A Mountain of Oil Shale. Colorado ... 39 

Oil Shale. Utah 46 

Massive Shale. Colorado 47 

Oil Shale Cliff. Utah . 64 

Oil Shale. Colorado 65 

Mount Logan. Colorado 94 

Apparatus for Oil Shale Analysis, Oil Shale 

Laboratory. Colorado School of Mines. 

Golden, Colorado 95 

Oil Shale. Utah 120 

A Mountain of Oil Shale. Colorado . . . 121 



XI 



THE OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 



OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 

CHAPTER I 
THE DAWN OF A NEW INDUSTRY 

Recent years have been filled with stirring and 
far-reaching events, world wide in their effect, not 
the least of which has been the birth 
of a new industry, with a potential 
supply of raw material that almost defies mathe- 
matical computation and staggers the imagina- 
tion. Can oil wells produce enough petroleum to 
meet the enormous demand now existing for oil 
and its products'? The answer is doubtful. Will 
new oil fields be discovered to meet the increased 
demand in the future? The answer is extremely 
doubtful. Yet this is the age of oil. Oil we must 
have. The future supply must come from our 
great deposits of oil shale. If oil is the "king" 
then oil shale is the "heir apparent.' ' 

From 1857 the total of the world production 
of petroleum was 6,996,674,563 barrels; of this, 
the United States produced 4,252,644,- The Present 
003 barrels. There are now approxi- Condition 
mately 250,000 producing oil wells in ^^ 
the United States. The average yield Industry 
is only four and a half barrels a day. Among the 

l 



2 OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 

great producers is the Burkburnett pool in Texas 
that has produced more than 7,000,000 barrels of 
oil and the Ranger pool that has produced more 
than 12,000,000 barrels. The average output in 
Wyoming is 40 barrels a well per day. The low 
average for the whole country of only four and a 
half barrels a day is caused by thousands of wells 
in the older fields that produce less than a quarter 
of a barrel a day. Of the total number of wells 
in the United States four-fifths do not yield more 
than a barrel of oil daily. 

The United States Bureau of Mines recently 
made a report to the Secretary of the Treasury on 

the subject in which it said: 
Uriedsltel ' ' The United States Geological Sur- 

Bureau of vey makes the pessimistic report that 
Mines -. -. £ , 

our underground reserves are forty 

per cent exhausted and that we probably are near 
the peak of domestic production. The consump- 
tion of petroleum is increasing far more rapidly 
than domestic production. During 1918, 39,000,000 
barrels of oil were imported from foreign coun- 
tries and 27,000,000 barrels were withdrawn from 
stocks. 

"Our future supply of petroleum must be con- 
served, and it is therefore imperative that the 
United States make every possible effort to fur- 
ther more efficient conservation of our under- 
ground reserves of oil and the more efficient 
utilization of petroleum and its products, because : 

1 i First. Petroleum has become the fundamental 



THE DAWN OF A NEW INDUSTRY 3 

basis of the industrial and military life of the 
nation in that gasoline has become the motive 
power for six million automobiles and trucks, for 
airplanes, farm tractors, and motor boats. Fuel 
oil has become necessary for our navy, our mer- 
chant marine, and larger industrial plants. Lubri- 
cating oil is essential for machinery of all kinds 
and without it not a wheel would turn. 

"Second. The potential supplies of crude oil 
outside of the United States are passing almost 
entirely into the political and economical control 
of foreign governments, and the United States is 
likely to pass from the position of dominance into 
a position of dependence. 

"Third. Investigations of the Bureau of Mines, 
of the Fuel Administration, and of other bodies 
have disclosed that the known oil reserves of the 
United States are not receiving adequate protec- 
tion, and are being wasted through inefficient 
methods in production, refining, and utilization of 
the oil.' ' 

The report says the Fuel Administration has 
made an investigation which shows that in 1917 in 
the exploitation of petroleum and natural gas in 
the United States the total waste in oil and gas 
amounted to $2,000,000,000, and continues : 

"The need for petroleum reaches every citizen 
in the United States. The number of automobiles 
is increasing at the rate of 1,000,000 to 2,000,000 
a year. Through pleasure cars, trucks, and farm 



4 OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 

tractors, every family in the United States is vir- 
tually interested in gasoline. 

"Through lubricating oils every person in the 
United States has a direct interest. Lubricating 
oils are one of the three essentials of modern 
civilization and in equal importance to steel and 
coal, for without lubricating oils no machinery 
would be possible. 

"The supply of fuel oil is, in the opinion of 
marine engineers, the strategic point for our 
merchant marine and in the development of any 
modern navy." 

The uncertainty of dependence upon new wells 
to supply the increased demand for oil is well 
illustrated by the compilation of the Boston News 
Bureau of January 27, 1920, viz. : 

Producing wells completed in the oil fields east 
of the Rocky Mountains in 1919 averaged 65 bar- 
rels daily output a well, initial flow. 
Production -^is compares with 90 barrels a well 
for 1918. Out of the 28,462 wells 
drilled in 1919, 5,951, or 21 per cent, were dry. 
North Louisiana wells, brought in in 1919, aver- 
aged 887 barrels daily production, North Texas 
595, and Gulf Coast 432.5 barrels. Producing 
wells brought in in the Pennsylvania fields 
averaged the smallest of any division — 10.5 bar- 
rels a well. Gulf Coast fields showed the largest 
number of dry holes, comparatively, as 561 out 
of 1,236 completions, or 45 per cent, were dry. 
Kentucky-Tennessee completions, numbering 






THE DAWN OF A NEW INDUSTRY 5 

3,716 for the year, showed only 421, or 11 per cent 
dry holes. The following shows the number of 
completions, dry holes, and initial daily output 
per well, in oil districts east of the Rockies during 
1919: 





Completions 


Dry holes 


Average initial 




No. 


% 


daily production 
of bbls. per well 


Pennsylvania 

Lima-Indiana 

Central Ohio 


5,178 

834 

940 

3,716 

370 

3,432 

8,196 

3,564 

704 

1,236 

303 


753 
159 
221 
421 
112 
640 
2,266 
598 
123 
561 
87 

5,941 


14 
19 
23 
11 
30 
18 
27 
16 
17 
45 
28 

21 


10.5 

21 

39 


Kentucky-Tennessee . . 
Illinois 


34 

44 


Kansas 


208 


Oklahoma 


93.5 


North Texas 


595 


North Louisiana 

Gulf Coast 


887 
432 5 


Wyoming 


275 






Total 


28,473 


165 







The average initial daily output of completions 
in the Pennsylvania fields, amounting to 10.5 bar- 
rels a well, is more than twice the average output 
of 4.5 barrels a well for the 225,000 producing 
wells in the United States. In the oil shale indus- 
try, the raw material for oil shale is absolutely 
certain and virtually inexhaustible, but the under- 
ground supply of petroleum is always an uncer- 
tain quantity and sooner or later is exhausted. 
For these reasons it is imperative that the United 
States take every step possible toward oonserv- 



OIL SHALE INDUSTKY 



ing its known reserves of oil. Petroleum and 
natural gas are not being replaced by nature and, 
once gone, cannot be replaced. 

Many significant figures could be given, but a 
few will suffice. 



Total number of reg- 
istered automobiles in 
the U. S. 

1914 1,700,000 

1918 6,146,000 



Production of Gasoline 
in the U. S. 

1,460,037,200 gallons 
3,570,312,963 gallons 



Increase in automobiles, 260 per cent; in pro- 
duction of gasoline, 145 per cent. It is predicted 
that 2,000,000 automobiles will be made in 1920. 

Statistics furnished by the United States Geo- 
logical Survey give the following interesting 
comparisons : 



Amount of Crude Oil 
in Storage 



Amount of Crude Oil 
Marketed 



Dec. 31, 1915 
Dec. 31, 1916 
Dec. 31, 1917 
Dec. 31, 1918 



194,185,000 barrels 
179,371,000 barrels 
156,168,000 barrels 
132,800,000 barrels 



During 1915, 281,104,104 barrels 
During 1916, 300,767,158 barrels 
During 1917, 335,315,600 barrels 
During 1918, 345.896,000 barrels 



Thus, during these four years the amount 
marketed increased from 281 to 345 million bar- 
rels; the reserve supply — that held in storage — 
decreased from 194 to 132 million barrels. From 
a production of 33 million barrels in 1891, the 
Pennsylvania fields have declined to 7,400,000 bar- 
rels in 1918. This gives the key to the oil situa- 
tion. Oil pools are merely reservoirs certain to 
become exhausted in the course of a few years. 



THE DAWN OF A NEW INDUSTRY 7 

Examining the condition of the refining of oil we 
find that from January to September, 1918, the 
refineries consumed 182,000,000 barrels. During 
the same period the production was only 170,000,- 
000 barrels. To meet this loss 12,000,000 barrels 
had to be drawn from storage, or more than a 
million barrels a month. 

The enormous extent of the oil industry, the 
widespread demand for oil, and its influence upon 
industrial life may be seen from a glance at the 
following tables from the Wall Street Journal: 

Crude Oil Production and Consumption in the United States 









Excess of 


Year 


Consumption 


Production 


Consumption over 
Production 


1912 


225,000,000 barrels 


224,000,000 barrels 


1,000,000 barrels 


1913 


200,000,000 barrels 


250,000,000 barrels 


10,000,000 barrels 


1914 


280,000,000 barrels 


264,000,000 barrels 


16,000,000 barrels 


1915 


296,000,000 barrels 


280,000,000 barrels 


16,000,000 barrels 


1916 


320,000,000 barrels 


300,000,000 barrels 


20,000,000 barrels 


1917 


376,000,000 barrels 


325,000,000 barrels 


51,000,000 barrels 


1918 


396,000,000 barrels 


340,000,000 barrels 


56,000,000 barrels 



The production for 1919 was 366,255,611 barrels, 
an increase of 26 millions over 1918, but the con- 
sumption has reached an estimated figure of 436,- 
000,000 barrels or an excess of consumption over 
production of 70 million barrels, compared with 
an excess of 56 million barrels in 1918, 51 million 
in 1917, and only 20 million in 1916. The estimated 
production for 1920 is 400 million barrels and this 
is regarded as the peak of production. 



OIL SHALE INDUSTEY 



Imposts from Mexico 

1912 1,000,000 bbl. 

1913 10,000,000 bbl. 

1914 16,000,000 bbl. 

1915 16,000,000 bbl. 

1916 20,000,000 bbl. 

1917 28,000,000 bbl. 

1918 41,000,000 bbl. 

1919 60,000,000 bbl. (Estimated) 





U. S. Production by Fields 


Estimated 
Available Oil 




1917 


1918 


in Ground 
(Nov., 1919) 


Ni 


24,932,000 bbl. 

3,670,000 bbl. 

15,777,000 bbl. 

163,506,000 bbl. 

24,343,000 bbl. 

9,199,000 bbl. 

93,878,000 bbl. 

10,300 bbl. 


25,401,000 bbl. 

3,221,000 bbl. 

13,366,000 bbl. 

179,383,000 bbl. 

24,208,000 bbl. 

12,809,000 bbl. 

97,532,000 bbl. 

7,943 bbl. 


550,000,000 bbl. 




40,000,000 bbl. 




175,000,000 bbl. 


Mid-Continent 


1,725,000,000 bbl. 


Gulf 


750,000,000 bbl. 


Rocky Mountain 


2,250,000,000 bbl. 


Other Fields 


x l, 250,000,000 bbl. 







1 Including Wyoming and Rocky Mountain. 



Production by Products in 1918 

Gasoline 85,000,000 bbl. 

Kerosene 43,400,000 bbl. 

Gas and Fuel Oil 174,300,000 bbl. 

Lubricants 20,000,000 bbl. 

Wax 1,900,000 bbl. 

Coke 3,600,000 bbl. 

Asphalt 33,500,000 bbl. 

Other products . . 30,600,000 bbl. 



Total 392,300,000 bbl. 

The Appalachian field is the oldest in the United 

States. Oil was first found by Col. Drake at Titus- 

ville, Pennsylvania, in 1859. Until 

Oil Produc- 1885 Pennsylvania produced virtually 

ing Fields the entire 01ltput of the country or 

98.50 per cent. The maximum output occurred in 



THE DAWN OF A NEW INDUSTRY 



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10 OIL SHALE INDUSTEY 

1900 — 36 million barrels. Since that time the out- 
put has decreased to 25,401,000 barrels in 1918. 

The Lima-Indiana field has been a producer 
since 1884. The output was greatest in 1904, 
24,689,184 barrels. This has decreased to 3,211,- 
000 barrels in 1918. 

The Illinois field became a producer in 1905. 
The maximum production was reached in 1908 — 
33,686,000 barrels. This has declined to 13,366,000 
barrels in 1918. 

The Mid-Continent field became an important 
producer in 1904 and has increased its output 
steadily to 179,383,000 barrels in 1918. It is esti- 
mated, however, that for 1919 the production has 
dropped to 115,000,000 barrels. 

The North Texas field became important in 
1911. The production in 1918 was 17,280,612 bar- 
rels ; this has been increased to 67,419,000 barrels 
in 1919. 

The Gulf field became important in 1901. The 
maximum output was reached in 1905 — 36,526,- 
323 barrels ; this fell to 24,208,000 in 1918. 

The Eocky Mountain field, before 1912, produced 
less than one million barrels a year, but this 
amount has increased to 12,809,000 barrels in 
1918; the peak of production has not yet been 
reached. 

In the California field the maximum production 
was reached in 1914—100,000,000 barrels ; in 1918 
it fell to 97,532,000 barrels. 

To generalize: the Appalachian, Lima-Indiana, 




, ■ 











COLORADO OIL SHALE 



THE DAWN OF A NEW INDUSTRY 11 

and Illinois fields have passed their peak of pro- 
duction; the Gulf, California and Mid-Continent 
have just about reached their peak ; North Louisi- 
ana, North Texas, and the Rocky Mountain fields 
have not reached their peak and largely increased 
production may be expected. 

The advance in the price of crude oil is likewise 
suggestive : 





Current Price 
July, 1920 


Low Price 
in 1915 


Pennsylvania 


$6.10 

4.00 
3.92 
3.75 
1.75 
3.73 
3.73 
3.77 
3.63 
3.77 
3.50 
2.75 
2.00 
4.13 


$1.35 


Corning 


.83 


Cabell 


.97 


Somerset 


.80 


Ragland 


.63 


North Lima 


.93 


South Lima 


.88 


Princeton 

Indiana 


.89 

.83 


Illinois 


.89 


Kansas-Oklahoma 

Healdton 


.40 
.30 


Caddo, heavv 


.35 


Canada 


1.28 







Fuel oil is variously quoted, according to the 
section of the country in which it is sold, but in 
general it may be said that current prices are from 
30 to 50 per cent above those of January 1, 1919, 
and from 100 to 300 per cent and more above the 
lows of 1914. Refined products as yet have not 
displayed the same strong tendency io advance as 
noted in crude, but that is natural in view of the 



12 OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 

fact that the refined output is being forced to 
capacity in every plant. Practically all refined 
products are at the highest price levels in their 
history, with an extremely firm undertone. There 
is likely to be a sudden and sharp increase in 
prices for all refined products, according to the 
best opinion, for the greatest demand ever known 
is in prospect. Inasmuch as high prices result in 
more active drilling operation, oil companies are 
preparing to make 1920 a year of banner produc- 
tion, so that the peak of well petroleum will very 
likely be reached, but thereafter a steady decline 
will probably ensue. 

Besides the common uses of petroleum, known 
to every one, the following new uses will form in- 
creased demands : 

1. Airplanes. Since the close of the war and 

the abandonment of the airplane for war work, 

industrial uses are open for it. Al- 
New Uses \ . . 

for Petro- ready aerial mail service is m force; 

leum next will be light express service, and 

then passenger service. Soon the planes will be 

almost as common in the air as birds and rapid 

transportation will be revolutionized. 

2. Motor trucks. Between the large centers of 
population and the surrounding towns, as well as 
from the smaller distributing centers, the auto 
truck has begun to displace railroad freight service 
in the branch and short haul. The four handlings 
of the freight service is reduced to two. To this 
is the added advantage of frequent direct service. 



THE DAWN OF A NEW INDUSTRY 13 

In 1904 only 411 motor trucks of a total wholesale 
value of $946,947 were manufactured. In 1919, 
305,142 motor trucks were manufactured, of a 
total value of $408,311,585. 

3. Tractors. Tractors for farm use form the 
next step in farm improvement. Their advantage 
is very great and their increased use unquestioned. 

4. Oil burning steamers. The use of petroleum 
as fuel in steamers is rapidly increasing. A ton 
of oil occupies five cubic feet less space than a ton 
of coal and gives eighty per cent steaming effi- 
ciency as compared with sixty-five per cent for 
coal. The increased cargo room available, when 
oil is used, with the certainty of enhanced finan- 
cial returns from freight, makes the use of oil on 
all classes of steamers in the near future a fore- 
gone conclusion. 

5. Oil for road use. The cheaper grade of oil 
and residues form an excellent material for road- 
making. Its use in California is an object lesson 
to every automobilist in that State. 

In passing judgment upon the condition of the 
oil industry as a whole, one must not be blinded 
by the enormous production of gushers, nor be 
made unduly pessimistic over the low average 
yield of the quarter of a million wells in the United 
States. A common sense view seems to be that 
first, our supply of petroleum from wells is not 
meeting the country-wide demand and that the 
limit of production is approaching; second, the 
supply of petroleum from wells can be maintained 



14 OIL SHALE INDUSTKY 

only by the discovery of new extensive pools; 
third, there is little likelihood that new pools like 
the Mid-Continental, or California, will be dis- 
covered because the entire country has already 
been explored ; fourth, that the only great national 
reservoir that can be absolutely depended upon to 
supply oil is our enormous deposits of shale. This 
will undoubtedly be the source of our oil supply 
for the future. In the words of George Otis Smith, 
Director of the United States Geological Survey, 
the oil situation in the United States is "pre- 



CHAPTER II 

NATURE, ORIGIN, AND DISTRIBUTION OF OIL 

SHALE 

Oil shale virtually contains no oil as such. It 
is a consolidated mud or clay deposit from which 
petroleum is obtained by distillation. 
In appearance, the shale is black, or 
brownish-black, but on weathered surfaces it is 
white or gray. It is usually fine grained, with 
some lime and occasionally sand. It is tough but, 
in thin sections, friable. When broken to a fresh 
surface it may give an odor like petroleum. Thin 
rich pieces burn with a sooty flame. E. H. Cun- 
ningham-Craig defines it as follows : Oil shale is 
an argillaceous or shaly deposit from which 
petroleum may be obtained by distillation but not 
by trituration or treatment by solvents. Oil shale 
must be carefully distinguished from oil sand. In 
the oil sand, the oil is contained in the sand as oil. 
When the sand is penetrated by a well the oil 
gushes out or is pumped out. In the oil shale 
there is no oil as such, but only the uncooked in- 
gredients of oil. When the shale is subjected to 
destructive distillation, i. e., heated in a closed 

15 



16 OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 

vessel, or cooked, shale oil results as a manufac- 
tured product. 

Oil shale may also be regarded as an unfinished 
oil field and is one of a long list of natural de- 
. posits which result from the decom- 

position of organic matter from plants 
or animals of a former geologic era — like anthra- 
cite, bituminous, and brown coal ; peat, petroleum, 
and asphaltum. Beds of oil shale were laid down 
in lakes, lagoons, or wide expanses of quiet water. 
They contain a large amount of organic matter — 
low plant forms of life like algae ; also pollen, fish 
scales, insects, and remains of animal and vege- 
table life sometimes changed beyond recognition, 
although 277 species of insects have been rec- 
ognized. 

Oil shale is found in Colorado, Kentucky, Utah, 
Wyoming, Texas, Pennsylvania, Nevada,, Mon- 
tana, West Virginia, and California. 
Sst'ribmion In Canada it is found in Quebec, New 
Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and New- 
foundland. In Scotland, near Edinburgh and on 
the Isle of Skye. In France, at Autun, Buxiere 
les Mines and in the Riviera. In South Africa, in 
the Transvaal, Mozambique, and Natal. Also in 
New South Wales, New Zealand, Tasmania, Bra- 
zil, Italy, Spain, Austria-Hungary, Serbia, and 
Turkey. In England it occurs in Norfolk. 

The oil shale beds of Scotland occur within a 
small area, twenty miles in diameter, in the coun- 
ties of West Lothian, Mid Lothian, and Lanark- 



DISTRIBUTION OF OIL SHALE 17 

shire. The center of the district is fourteen miles 
west of Edinburgh. The shale beds are simply a 
very fine impalpable clay shale, brown 
to black in color, free from silica, 
easily cut with a sharp knife, and in form are 
plain or curly. The beds vary greatly in thickness ; 
it is not uncommon to find a seam pinch out alto- 
gether, but another seam, above or below it, in- 
creases in thickness and richness as the first de- 
teriorates. Faults, folds, and igneous intrusions 
are not uncommon. Mining is done entirely 
through shafts. "Kerogen" is the Scotch term 
given to the complex organic compounds in the 
shale which produce petroleum. The richer shales 
yield from 30 to 40 gallons of oil to the ton of 
shale. The lower grade shale that yields only from 
15 to 18 gallons gives from 60 to 70 pounds of 
ammonium sulphate. That is, the shale that runs 
high in oil runs low in ammonium sulphate; the 
shale that is low in oil is high in ammonium sul- 
phate. In the earlier days of the industry the 
shales that were worked produced more crude oil 
than the shales of to-day. Notably the Torbane 
Hill material gave from 96 to 130 gallons of crude 
oil a ton. At the present time the production sel- 
dom exceeds 30 gallons a ton, and shale yielding 
only 15 gallons is successfully treated. The ex- 
planation of this lies in the fact that crude oil is 
not the only product of value that may be obtained. 
The ammonium sulphate is also valuable. If this 
is obtained in large quantity, as in the case of 



18 OIL SHALE INDUSTEY 

shale now being treated, the total result in crude 
oil, plus ammonium sulphate, may be economically 
profitable. The following series of products are 
secured from the Scotch shales : 

1. Permanent gases used for fuel under retorts. 

2. Naphtha, gasoline, and motor spirits. 

3. Burning or lamp oil. 

4. Intermediate oil used for gas-making. 

5. Lubricating oil. 

6. Solid paraffin. 

7. Still grease. 

8. Still coke, which contains some oil and is 
used for gas, smokeless fuel, and carbon for elec- 
trical purposes. 

9. Ammonium sulphate. 

10. Liquid fuel used in the refineries. 

The Scottish seams of oil shale that have been 
worked, at various times, have given approxi- 
mately the results shown in table on page 19. 

The present output of shale is approximately 
3,500,000 tons annually, valued at $15,000,000.00. 
In the various parts of the industry 12,500 men are 
now employed. 

The refineries are now producing from the oil 
shale approximately : 

Burning oils 20,000,000 gallons 

Naphtha 5,000,000 gallons 

Lubricating oils 22,000,000 gallons 

Paraffin wax ,. 25,000 tons 

Sulphate of ammonia 54,000 tons 



DISTRIBUTION OF OIL SHALE 



19 



Name 



Torbane Hill 

Levenseat 

Raeburn 

Addiewell 

(Not much worked) 
Fells 



(The principal shale of the 
West Calder District. Ex- 
tensively worked) 

Oakbank Shale — 

Wee 

Big 

Wild 

Curly 

Lower Wild 

New 

Dunnet 

(Extensively worked) 
Barracks 



Thickness 



Broxburn Shale- 
Broxburn gray. . . 

Broxburn curly 

Broxburn seam 



PUMPIIERSTON SEAMS- 

Jubilee 

Maybrick 

Curly 

Plain 

Wee 

Mungle 

(Not much worked) 



11 in. 
3-6 ft. 
20 in. 

3-5 ft. 



Gal. of Crude 
Oil, Long Tons 



ft. 

6 in. 



m 

4 ft 
6 ft 
6 ft 

5 ft 
8 ft 
4-12 ft. 



6 in. 
6 in. 



8 ft. 



6 ft. 

5 ft. 6 in. 
5-6 ft. 



8 ft. 

5 ft. 

6 ft. 

7 ft. 
4 ft. 
2 ft. 



96-130 

29 

40-55 

28 

26-40 



36 

22 

29^ 

22 

19 

21 

24-33 

18-22 



20-33 
19-33 
10-51 



18 
16 
20 
20 
18 
35 



Ammonium 

Sulphate lb. 

Long Tons 



14 
13-18 

20-35 



34-41 
35 



14-34 



34-41 

11-38 

7-40 



55 

60 

52-67 

60 

60 

30 



20 OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 

D. R. Steuart in " Economic Geology/' Vol. 3, 
1908, p. 574, describes briefly the equipment as f ol- 
~ . .. lows : "In a Scotch oil works there are 

Description 

of the Scotch the great benches of shale retorts 
sometimes more than 60 feet high, 
with the great stacks of numerous series of 3-inch 
pipes, 30 to 40 feet high, for air condensers. There 
is the three-story-high sulphate of ammonia house, 
with its high column-stills, the acid saturators for 
the ammonia, vacuum or other evaporator for the 
sulphate from the recovered sulphuric acid of the 
refinery, centrifugal driers, storage and grinding 
mills. In the refining departments the stills are 
small and, on account of the repeated distillations, 
very numerous ; the washers for vitriol and soda 
are many; there are coolers, refrigerators, filter 
and hydraulic plate presses for the separation or" 
the heavy oil and solid paraffin; great sweating 
houses for the paraffin refining; candle works; 
sulphuric acid plants; acid recovery plant; engi- 
neer's, joiner's, and plumber's shops — a very 
large and varied collection of apparatus covering 
much ground, so that for a comparatively small 
production there is a very large and expensive 
plant. A conspicuous feature of the works is the 
great hills of spent shale. ' ' 

In 1913 oil shale was discovered on the Isle of 
Skye. It is fine grained, brown in color, fossilif- 

erous, tough, and resists disintegra- 
Isle of Skye , . ' & , ' . . , , , , 

tion by weathering. At the outcrops 

it is from seven to ten feet in thickness. Two 

samples from the outcrops gave : 



DISTRIBUTION OF OIL SHALE 21 



Crude oil 

gallons a 

ton 



12 
12 



Ammonium sulphate, 
Pounds a ton 



6.2 

7.4 



England 



It is not now of commercial importance. 

The oil shale deposits of England cover an 
area of one hundred square miles in Norfolk, a 
few miles from the port of King's 
Lynn on The Wash. It is entirely con- 
trolled by the English Oilfields, Ltd., capital $1,- 
500,000. Enough test holes have been sunk to 
determine accurately the depth, character, and ex- 
tent of the oil shale seams. Holes to a depth of 
300 feet show seams of shale aggregating 150 feet. 
The thinnest is four feet in thickness. The seam 
which is now being mined at West Winch is 14 feet 
thick. These deposits, virtually flat, are note- 
worthy for regularity of strata, thickness of the 
beds, uniformity of dip, and persistence of oil 
value. The seams do not vary in dip more than 
two or three inches in a distance of ten or twenty 
miles. The whole formation must have been laid 
down over a wide lake area and the deposition 
must have been very slow and regular. The 
limits of the deposit have been accurately de- 
fined by borings. It is safe to say that the 
English Oilfields, Ltd. — the controlling company 
— has title to the entire deposit. Complete 
equipment is installed for mining and retort- 



22 OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 

ing 1,000 tons of shale a day. A daily production 
of 45,000 gallons of oil and 70,000 pounds of am- 
monium sulphate is expected. The retorts are 
especially designed, after repeated experiments, 
for the shale to be treated, and are distinctly dif- 
ferent from the Scotch type. The shale gives from 
50 to 60 gallons of shale oil to the ton. A refining 
plant treats the crude shale oil as it comes directly 
from the distilling plant, so that the mining, re- 
torting, and refining are virtually conducted in 
one general plant. The oil resulting from the 
Norfolk shale is distinctly different from the 
Scotch oil. The Norfolk crude is of a light nature, 
produces a long range of lubricants, 60 to 70 
pounds of ammonium sulphate to the ton, and 15 
per cent of paraffin wax. The discovery and com- 
mercial development of this Norfolk oil shale de- 
posit, in the opinion of English experts, is not only 
of national importance, but marks an era in the 
industrial history of England comparable with 
the discovery and development of her coal de- 
posits. 

As far as our present knowledge extends it is 
evident that Canada is not so well supplied with 
oil fields as the United States. For 
this reason the oil shale industry is 
likely to make rapid advancement within the 
Dominion. The Geological Survey and the Bu- 
reau of Mines have already given considerable 
attention, in examinations and reports, to these 



DISTRIBUTION OF OIL SHALE 23 

deposits, especially to the vast deposits known to 
exist in the Peace River territory in northern 
Saskatchewan. 

The oil shales of New Brunswick are located 
chiefly in three areas — the Taylorville, Albert 
Mines, and Baltimore. In Taylorville 
are four beds of shale of good quality ; wi e c ^ runs ~ 
one five feet, one three feet, and two, 
one foot ten inches thick. In Albert Mines are six 
beds of the following thickness (the most im- 
portant in New Brunswick) : 6.5 feet, 3.5 feet, 
5 feet, 4.5 feet, 6 feet, and one with thin beds of 
oil shale. In Baltimore are four beds, 4 feet, 5 
feet, 7 feet, and 6 feet thick, respectively. The 
shale beds of Canada — especially in New Bruns- 
wick — are proving on careful examination to be 
richer and more extensive than was first supposed 
and, when fully developed, are likely to be a source 
of great wealth. They are generally accessible 
and easily worked. 

Results of analysis of New Brunswick oil shales 
made by the Mines Branch of the Canadian Geo- 
logical Survey is shown on page 24. 

Other shale deposits in New Brunswick are the 
Prosser Brook, the Pleasant Vale, the Mapleton, 
the Elgin, Goshen, Sussex, and Norton shales. 
Thirty-six tons of New Brunswick shale tested at 
the Pumpherston Oil Co., Scotland, gave an 
average of 40.09 gallons of crude oil and 7().1H 
pounds of ammonium sulphate a ton. The New 



24 



OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 



Brunswick Shale Co., Ltd., capitalized at $5,000,- 
000, has been organized recently to develop the 
New Brunswick deposits. 



Albert Mines — ■ 
Bed No. 1—6 . 5 feet thick 
Bed No. 2— 3.5 " " . 
Bed No. 3— 5 " " , 
Bed No. 4— 4.5 " " , 
Bed No. 6— 6 " " . 

Dover Shales — 
Average of four samples . . , 



Taylorville Shales— 
Adams Farm, Taylorville. 
Taylor 



Adams 



Taylor 



No. 1 
No. 2 
No. 1 
No. 2 

No. 1 
No. 2 



Baltimore Shales — 

Baizly 

E. Stevens 

Geo. Irving 

West Branch (gray shale) 



Crude oil, 

Imperial gal. 

a ton 



48.5 
38.8 
45.5 
43.5 
27.0 



27.2 



43.0 
48.0 
37.0 
42.3 
47.3 
46.8 
45.0 



54.0 
49.0 
40.0 

56.8 



Specific 

gravity of 

the oil 



0.892 
0.892 
0.891 
0.896 
0.895 



0.921 



0.900 
0.910 
0.925 
0.897 
0.901 
0.902 
0.903 



0.895 
0.892 
0.895 
0.891 



Ammonium 

sulphate — 

pounds a ton 



82.-8 
60.3 

48. 

56.8 

49.1 



29.5 



93.0 
98.0 

110.0 
96.5 
88.7 
85.0 

101.0 



110.0 
67.0 
77.0 
30.5 



Oil shales were first discovered in Pictou County 
in 1859. They are also fonnd in An- 
tigonish County. Analysis of Pictou 
County shale gave two satisfactory results; 



Nova Scotia 



DISTRIBUTION OF OIL SHALE 



25 





Crude oil, 

Imperial gal., 

a ton 


Specific 

gravity of 

a ton 


Ammonium 

sulphate — 

pounds a ton 


Bed No. 1 


42.0 
14.5 

11.0 
10.0 
23.0 


0.889 
0.892 

0.917 

0.893 
0.906 


35.0 


Bed No. 2 


41.0 


Analysis of Antigonish County 

shales gave: 
Bed No. 1 


22.6 


Bed No. 2 


38.0 


Bed No. 3 


34.0 



The oil bearing shales of Quebec are found in 
the Gaspe Basin. The outcrops are from 12 to 15 
inches in thickness. Samples tested 
by the Canadian Bureau of Mines re- 
sulted as follows : 



Quebec 





Crude oil, 

Imperial gal., 

a ton 


Specific 

gravity of 

the oil 


Ammonium 

sulphate — 

pounds a ton 


Bed No. 1 


30.0 
31.5 
36.0 


0.962 
0.977 
0.953 


42.20 


Bed No. 2 


40.00 


Bed No. 3 


59.50 







On account of the thinness of these beds their 
economic value is doubtful. 

The oil shales of Newfoundland cover an area 
of about 750 square miles. The largest deposit 
lies between the head of White bay Newfound- 
and Deer and Grand lakes, and varies land 
from 50 to 100 feet in thickness. The dip of the 
strata is slight and the outlcroppings are bold. An 



26 OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 

analysis of typical shale gave 50 gallons of crude 
oil and 80 pounds of ammonium sulphate a ton. 
The Newfoundland shales have great prospective 
value. 

Second only to the oil shale industry in Scotland 
ranks the French, which dates from 1830. After 
many years of successful operation it 
suffered from competition with oil 
wells until the French Government in 1890 offered 
a premium for the production of oil from shale. 
This bonus, together with the adoption of efficient 
Scotch methods of treatment, revived the industry. 
The shales occur at depths from 150 to 300 feet. 
Five companies are now in operation on the shale 
of Autun and Buxiere les Mines, where the shale 
produces 50 gallons of oil a ton. The best oil 
shales of France, however, are in southern France 
in the Riviera, especially the deposit of the Mines 
de Boson, five miles north of Frejus, in Var, owned 
by Mines de l'Estrel. The seam is five feet thick, 
dips at an angle of 30 to 40 degrees, and yields 
from 80 to 120 gallons of oil to the ton. The oil is 
free from sulphur, of .86 gravity, and, when re- 
fined, gives 18 per cent gasoline and 25 per cent of 
lubricants. The property is equipped with a re- 
torting plant and a cracking plant of the Hall 
(English) type. This is the only French oil shale 
deposit to be developed in recent years, but the 
scarcity and high price of coal, as well as the de- 
mand for petroleum products, makes it probable 



DISTRIBUTION OF OIL SHALE 27 

that other oil shale deposits known to exist in 
southern France will be developed in the near 
future. 

Large outcrops of rich oil shales occur in the 
gorges of the Blue mountains, New South Wales. 
Fossils are found in the lower shale 
measures. These shales are reported 
to give 100 gallons of oil and 70 pounds of ammo- 
nium sulphate a ton. The government has estab- 
lished a system of bonuses, for the production of 
oil, which are expected to increase the present 
annual production from 3,000,000 to more than 
20,000,000 gallons. There are two British-Aus- 
tralian companies in the field — the Commonwealth 
Oil Corporation, capital $6,000,000, operating at 
Newnes, and the British- Australian Oil Co., capi- 
tal $1,460,000, operating at Temi in the Liverpool 
range. From 1365 to 1916, 1,751,367 tons of oil 
shale have been produced of a total value of 
$11,606,671. 

Oil shale is found in two districts — the Ermelo 
and the Wakkerstroom, fifty miles apart. Although 
these two deposits may prove to be 
one continuous bed, there is no evi- 
dence to that effect at the present time. In each 
case the shale is associated with a seam of coal. 
The Ermelo shales have produced from 30 to M 
gallons of crude oil to the ton. The Wakkerstroom 
shale has yielded as much as 90 gallons a ton, but 
the shale is only 9 inches thick. 



28 OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 

Oil shales are exposed at many places on the 

coast of Brazil. They have been examined by 

Professor John C. Branner, of Leland 

Brazil . 

Stanford, Jr., University, and their 
composition determined by the late Sir Boverton 
Redwood, of London. The richest yielded 44.73 
gallons of crude oil and 19.58 gallons of am- 
moniacal water to the ton. The deposits have not 
been worked commercially. 

A Governmental commission has recently re- 
ported upon the oil shale resources of Sweden and 
the domestic needs for oils. It is esti- 
mated that the country's needs are 
annually : 

Lamp oils.... 100,000,000 kilos. 
Lubricating oil 25,000,000 kilos. 
Petroleum . . . 13,000,000 kilos. 
Other oils .... 20,000,000 kilos. 

The oil shale resources are estimated at 5,260,- 
000,000 tons, found at Kinnekulle, Narke, Osergot- 
land, and Oland. From tests made upon the shale 
oil it is calculated that the following products can 
be obtained : 



Fuel oils. ., . . 25.5 per cent 

Lubricating oils 34.5 per cent 

Asphaltum and tar 18.5 per cent 

Ammonium sulphate ... 7 to 9.5 per cent 



DISTRIBUTION OF OIL SHALE 29 

At the end of Cretaceous and the beginning of 
Tertiary times, there occurred in the Rocky Moun- 
tain region earth movements which 
resulted in a great inland basin or Basin Um 
lake, covering a distance of three hun- 
dred miles north and south and two hundred miles 
east and west, over what is now northwestern Col- 
orado, northeastern Utah, and southwestern Wyo- 
ming. It is a topographic as well as a structural 
basin, limited by the Uintah mountain uplift on 
the north, by the Roan cliffs on the south, by the 
Wasatch mountains on the west, and by the 
Rangely dome on the east. The oil shales lie in 
the Green River formation; they are covered by 
newer formations in the northern portions, but are 
well exposed in the south. They can be explored 
and studied over an area of 40 by 125 miles. This 
deposit is undoubtedly the most extensive, the 
richest, and the most accessible in the world. As 
a reserve for the use of the Navy, the United 
States Government has withdrawn from this area 
in Colorado 45,440 acres and in Utah 86,584 acres. 
In the Utah portion of the Uintah basin alone 
there are available more than 40,000,000,000 tons 
of oil shale that will yield more than a barrel of 
oil to the ton. If 100 plants were to work con- 
tinuously 365 days in the year, each treating 2,000 
tons a day, it would require 550 years to exhaust 
this supply. 

In Colorado the oil shale occurs chiefly in Oar- 
field, Rio Blanco, and Moffat counties, and covers 



30 OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 

2,500 square miles. The towns of Grand Valley 
and De Beque, on the line of the Denver and 
Rio Grande Railroad, are the points 
of entrance. The exposed shales of the 
De Beque district lie northeast, north and north- 
west of the town, on both banks of Roan creek, on 
its largest tributaries, Conn, Kimball, and Dry 
Fork creeks, and on all of its smaller tributaries. 
Within a radius of 30 miles from De Beque there 
are 175 miles of continuous outcroppings of ore 
shale. A measure of the interest and activity in 
the oil shale industry can be realized from the fact 
that since June, 1916, there have been more than 
1,500 filings on oil shale land in Garfield County. 
In the Parachute region of the Grand Valley dis- 
trict is a well defined rich oil shale stratum — 
twelve to twenty feet thick — that is exposed on 
both banks of Parachute creek and all its side 
streams continuously for a total distance of sixty- 
nine miles. Many tests show that it will yield an 
average of at least forty-two gallons, or one barrel 
of oil, to the ton. Assuming that this stratum ex- 
tends only a mile and a quarter back from the line 
of exposure — a conservative estimate — the area of 
this stratum is at least 55,000 acres. This estimate 
does not include the shale exposed on Battlement 
Mesa east and southeast of Grand Valley. Using 
the minimum thickness of twelve feet, allowing 25 
per cent of the volume to be left as pillars, and 
counting only on forty-two gallons to the ton, this 
stratum alone would contain 1,012,500,000 barrels 




PAPEH SHALE. COLOR ado 



m 




DISTRIBUTION OF OIL SHALE 31 

of crude oil. To one fond of figuring the following 
will prove interesting. An acre contains 43,560 
square feet. A seam of oil shale 10 feet thick 
would contain 435,600 square feet. Eighteen cubic 
feet of shale weigh one ton. Hence there are 
24,200 tons of shale in one acre of a seam 10 feet 
thick. In a square mile there are 640 acres and 
therefore 15,488,000 tons of shale. There are 2,500 
square miles of shale in Colorado, or 38,720,000,- 
000 tons. Assume that only one-half is available 
and there remains 19,360,000,000 tons of available 
shale. This is figured for one ten-foot seam only. 
A conservative estimate is 30 feet of workable 
shale or a total of 58,080,000,000 tons of available 
shale. A fair average production is a barrel of oil 
to the ton of shale or 58,080,000,000 barrels of oil 
available. If 100 plants were in operation, each 
treating 2,000 tons daily, they would have a daily 
production of 200,000 barrels. To treat this 
amount of shale would require 290,400 days or 
800 years, approximately. These figures apply 
only to Colorado; they omit shale deposits else- 
where, and are given only to make vivid and em- 
phatic the oft-repeated statement that ' ' there are 
mountains of oil shale." 

The most important deposits in Nevada are at 
Elko, and extend over a belt 30 miles in extent. 
Two experimental plants are now in 
operation; the plant of the Southern 
Pacific Company under the supervision of the 
United States Bureau of Mines — a Pumpherston 



32 OIL SHALE INDUSTKY 

(Scotch) retort — and the plant of the Catlin Shale 
Products Company. The shale at the Catlin plant 
produces fifty gallons of oil to the ton with a 
paraffin base. At Carlin the oil shale occurs in the 
form of vertical dikes up to 300 feet in width, and 
has an asphaltum base. 

The oil shales of Montana, near Dillon, offer a 
new problem to the experimenter. They are pe- 
culiar in that they contain phosphoric 
acid and the beds are called phos- 
phoric oil shale. It was hoped that both oil and 
phosphate could be obtained in profitable quanti- 
ties, but field work and investigations of the 
United States Geological Survey have shown that 
this result is not possible at the present time. In 
the Dillon region the ore content of the phosphoric 
oil shale, where the richest shale beds are only 
three feet, does not exceed 30 gallons to the ton. 
The phosphate beds also are thin and contain but 
a small amount of phosphorus pentoxide. In 
Southwestern Idaho the shale associated with 
high grade phosphate rock yields little or no oil. 
It seems, therefore, that at the present time 
these beds would not be commercially profitable. 



CHAPTER III 

THE HISTORY OF THE OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 

In the course of his classical investigations on 
the tar produced in the dry distillation of wood, 
Reichenbach, in 1830, discovered in it, 
among other things, a colorless, wax- t igation nVeS " 
like solid which he called paraffin 
because he found it to be endowed with an ex- 
traordinary indifference towards all reagents. A 
few years later he isolated from the same material 
a liquid oil chemically similar to paraffin, which he 
called eupion (very fat). For many years both 
these bodies were known only as chemical curiosi- 
ties. This was natural enough as far as paraffin 
was concerned, but it is rather singular that it 
took so long before it was realized that eupion, or 
something very much like it, forms the body of 
petroleum which had been known, ever since the 
time of Herodotus at least, to well up abundantly 
from the earth in certain places. Though exten- 
sively known, it was used only as an external 
medicinal agent, until James Young conceived the 
idea of working a comparatively scanty oil spring 
in Derbyshire, and subsequently found that an oil 
similar to petroleum is obtained by the dry distil- 

33 



34 OIL SHALE INDUSTKY 

lation of cannel coal and similar materials at low 
temperatures. 

The shale oil industry is not new. It has been 
successfully developed and operated in Scotland 
for nearly seventy years. The first 
material to be subjected to dry distil- 
lation, which furnished the earliest known distil- 
lation tar, was described by Boyle in 1661. About 
this time tar was recovered from the dry distilla- 
tion of pine in Norway and Sweden. In 1661 a 
patent was taken out by Becker in England for the 
recovery of tar and pitch from coal. Becker was 
also the first to produce coke. The one outstand- 
ing achievement, however, in the shale oil indus- 
try is due to James Young. The possibility of 
extracting oil from bituminous shale had long been 
known in Scotland, but the small plants which had 
been erected were of brief existence and of little 
importance. At the suggestion of Lyon Playfair, 
Young built a refinery for treating petroleum ob- 
tained from a spring at Alfreton, in Derbyshire. 
He produced two kinds of oil, one for lubricating 
and the other for burning in lamps. Paraffin was 
also obtained but not utilized to any extent. 
Within two years the supply began to fail and in 
1851 the business ceased. Meanwhile, it had oc- 
curred to Young that the oil had been produced by 
the action of heat upon coal, so he attempted to 
produce an artificial oil by this means. As a 
result of a long-continued investigation with many 
varieties of coal he secured a patent in October, 



HISTORY OP OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 35 

1850, which became the basis of a new industry. 
"The coals,' ' the patentee says, "which I deem to 
be best fitted for the purpose are such as are usu- 
ally called parrot coal, cannel coal, and gas coal, 
and which are much used in the manufacture of 
gas for the purpose of illumination. ' ' Early in 
1850, a material called Boghead coal from Torbane 
Hill was brought to his attention. This he found 
to be the most promising of any material he had 
investigated. In 1850, a plant was erected at Bath- 
gate. The salient feature of Young's invention 
was the distillation of bituminous substances at 
the lowest possible temperature for the production 
of volatile compounds. In practice it was found 
that the best results were obtained at about 800 °F. 
In the early days of the industry in Scotland, 
Boghead coal or Torbane Hill mineral, as it is 
sometimes called, was the only material distilled. 
As the same material was used for the production 
of illuminating gas, it rose rapidly in price and in 
1866 disappeared. When the supply of Boghead 
coal ceased, another material, well adapted for 
distillation, was found in the oil shales existing in 
thesScottish carboniferous formation. In 1859, a 
seam was experimentally opened at Broxburn and 
by 1864 several plants were in operation. But 
although the Boghead coal produced 120 to 130 
gallons of oil a ton, the shales yielded only about 
35 gallons and at the present time produce even 
less. In 1850, a plant was erected at Bathgate. 
In 1861, a second, the Crofthead Oil Works, was in 



36 OIL SHALE INDUSTEY 

operation In 1857, when Young's patent expired, 
thirty-eight new works were established. In 1860 
there were six; in 1870, ninety; in 1880, twenty- 
six; in 1890, fourteen; in 1900, nine. At the 
present time four companies are operating: 
Young's Paraffin, Light and Mineral Co., Ltd.; 
the Oakbank Oil Co., Ltd. ; the Broxburn Oil Co., 
Ltd., and the Pumpherston Oil Co., Ltd. There 
are three other companies which produce only oil 
and ammonium sulphate. 

At the beginning of the industry in Scotland, 
horizontal retorts were used, but were soon sup- 
planted by the vertical type. In form the hori- 
zontal retorts were of oval, or rectangular, shape 
made of cast iron; at one end was a door and at 
the other a pipe for the removal of vapor to the 
condenser plant. The material was charged and 
discharged through the door, so that the operation 
of the retort was intermittent. To secure a con- 
tinuously working retort, the vertical type was 
introduced. These were narrow, oval, or circu- 
lar cast iron pipes, surrounded by brickwork. They 
were charged from a hopper at the top and dis- 
charged at the bottom through a trough filled with 
water which acted as a seal. The vapors escaped 
through the pipe on the side of the retort near the 
top. Coal was used as fuel. These retorts had 
the advantage over the horizontal retorts of con- 
tinuous working and a greater yield of oil. Their 
life was, however, short — six to nine months — on 
account of corrosion. In these early retorts, de- 



HISTORY OF OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 37 

composition was effected at the expense of the 
paraffin content with the result of an oil low in 
paraffin. To produce an oil which would be rich 
in paraffin, Young conducted exhaustive experi- 
ments which resulted, in the late sixties, in a retort 
of increased diameter. In this type the retort was 
jacketed and the vapors were taken off at the 
bottom. To effect a more economical working 
and to obtain a lower distillation temperature, 
Young later began to use the spent shale instead' 
of coal as a source of heat. A retort was devised 
by which he proved that the spent shale could 
furnish enough heat for distillation, but it was 
too delicate for operation by workmen with hun- 
dreds of retorts to look after. In 1873, a retort 
was constructed by N. M. Henderson. A set of 
these retorts was installed in the Oakbank works 
in 1874 and did good work for twelve years, when 
they were replaced by an improved type. They 
were also used at Broxburn and contributed 
greatly to the success of the Broxburn Oil Co. 
The retorts of Young and Henderson, in which 
shale was burnt, were able to work at a lower 
distillation temperature and the oil produced was 
of better quality and richer in paraffin. The work- 
ing costs were also reduced considerably. Until 
1880, the yield of oil was thought to be the most 
important feature in the process of distillation, 
and the recovery of ammonia a side issue. At this 
time Young and Beilby began to investigate the 
possibility of increasing the yield of ammonia. 



38 OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 

A retort was constructed with an upper section 
of cast iron in which the shale was acted upon by 
a gentle heat for the production of oil, and a lower 
section of fire brick where the temperature was 
higher and where steam was introduced. From 
this retort an excellent oil was produced and the 
yield of ammonia and gas was increased. The 
disadvantages were that it required very close 
attention and its liability to choke if the tempera- 
tures became so high as to fuse the charge in the 
lower portion. To avoid these difficulties, Young 
constructed a retort known as the Pentland; the 
diameter was increased, the upper section con- 
structed of iron, and the lower of fire brick. The 
joint between the two was very carefully made. 
The retort was 27.5 feet high. The temperature 
in the upper zone was maintained at about 750 °F. 
(400°C.) and in the lower zone, 13Q0°F. (700°C.). 
The shale was kept in continuous motion by a 
toothed roller at the bottom of the retort. This 
prevented caking and the obstruction of the retort. 
The roller also discharged the spent shale into 
an iron box from which it was run into cars. 
The retort was easy to operate and required little 
attention. Fresh shale entered the retort in pro- 
portion as spent shale was discharged. The yield 
of ammonia was greater than that from other re- 
torts and the oil was of a good grade. 

The earliest record of oil shale investigation 
in America is that of Dr. Abram Gasner, who, in 
1815, erected a small retort at Baltimore, New 




p 



HISTORY OF OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 39 

Brunswick, to treat the albertite shale of New 
Brunswick. In Boston, the Downer Oil Company 
from 1854 to 1861 treated albertite from New 
Brunswick and manufactured lamp oil and paraf- 
fin. About 1855 the Mormons distilled 
oil from shale. The ruins of an oil re- states 
tort still remains at Juab, Utah, as evi- 
dence of their early knowledge of the character 
of the oil shale of that region. Between the years 
1850 and 1860 more than fifty plants were erected 
in the eastern states and along the Atlantic Coast 
to retort imported Boghead coal, by Young's proc- 
ess, and also local coals and shales. Plants were 
also erected to treat the Albert Mines shale in 
Canada. When, however, in 1859 oil was produced 
from wells in abundant quantity, the distillation 
plants were compelled to close, but were later re- 
modeled as refineries of well petroleum. D. R. 
Steuart says, in " Shale Oil Industry in Scot- 
land,' J " James Young may claim to be the father, 
not only of the Scotch shale oil industry, but also 
the great American petroleum industry." The 
supply of well oil was so abundant and so cheap 
that the production of oil from shale became un- 
necessary. Nothing was, therefore, done for 
many years. 

In 1910 Ralph Arnold and C. A. Fisher examined 
the shale deposits of Parachute creek. Grand Val- 
ley, Colorado, and called attention to the richness 
and extent of these deposits. In 1911 and 1912 
Joseph Bellis and James Doyle became interested 



40 OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 

and were among the first to locate claims under 
the placer law. In 1913, the United States Geo- 
logical Survey, believing that at some future time 
the deposits of oil shale would be needed to furnish 
a supply of oil, and realizing the necessity of pro- 
viding authentic information on the subject, 
placed a party in the field to investigate the oil 
shale deposits of northwestern Colorado, north- 
eastern Utah, and southwestern Wyoming. The 
work has been almost continuous since that time, 
either in the field or in the laboratory, and has 
been done chiefly by E. G. Woodruff, Dean E. 
Winchester, D. Dale Condit, and David T. Day. 
The results have been published in Bulletins of 
the Survey and have been invaluable to all who 
have been interested in the subject. 

The action of the Survey in examining and call- 
ing public attention to these oil shale deposits 
Develop- attracted the attention of chemists, 
ment of the engineers, oil men, and technicians to 
the United the subject, with the result that many 
States individuals and corporations at once 

began experiments and investigations. The work 
done has been widely scattered, often isolated, and 
frequently private as well as secret. About thirty 
processes for retorting are known to be in a 
greater or less stage of advancement. Of these the 
following are far enough advanced to be empha- 
sized. Others might be included, if information 
about them were obtainable. 



HISTORY OF OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 41 

J. B. Jenson, Edcation Process — 822 Mclntyre 
Bldg., Salt Lake City, Utah. 

Pearse Process — Arthur L. Pearse and Co., 50 
East 42nd St., New York City, N. Y. 

Scott Edcation Plant — Detroit Testing Lab- 
oratory, 674 Woodward Ave., Detroit, Mich. 

Stalmann Process — Otto Stalmann, 319 Ness 
Bldg., Salt Lake City, Utah. 

Wallace Process — George W. Wallace, Consult- 
ing Engineer, East St. Louis, Illinois. 

Galloupe Process — Galloupe Process Co., Grand 
Junction, Colorado. 

Simpson Process — Louis Simpson, 172 O'Con- 
nor St., Ottawa, Canada. 

Wingett Process — American Shale Refining Co., 
First National Bank Bldg., Denver, Col. 

Chew Process — National Shale Oil Co., 1530 
Welton St., Denver, Col. 

Prichard Process — Dr. Thomas W. Prichard, 
52 East 41st St., New York City, N. Y. 

Bishop Process — James A. Bishop, 1526 N. La- 
Sallc St., Chicago, 111. 

Catlin Process — Catlin Shale Products Co., 
Elko, Nevada. R. M. Catlin, Franklin, New 
Jersey. 

Del Monte Process— C. A. Prevost, 814 Southern 
Bldg., Washington, D. C. 

Anderson Process — The Anderson Shale Oil 
Co., 160 South Broadway, Denver, Colo. 

Brown Process— II. L. Brown, 265 Washington 
Ave., Newark, N. J. 



42 OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 

Randall Process — The Lackawanna Oil Shale 
Co., Gas and Electric Building, Denver, Colo. 

The plant at Elko, Nevada, was erected by the 
Southern Pacific Company under the general 
supervision of the United States Bu- 
Shaie Plant reai1 of Mines and the personal di- 
rection of Dr. David T. Day, of the 
Bureau. Dr. Day secured drawings of a Pum- 
pherston retort from Scotland and erected a plant 
one mile east of Elko. The plant consists of a 
bank of four retorts, each of two sections; the 
upper one, made of cast iron, is fifteen feet high, 
and the lower section, of fire brick, twenty feet 
high. The shale is hauled on trucks from the mine, 
three and one-half miles away. The plant was 
completed in November, 1919, but no reports are 
yet available. 

The Catlin Shale Products Co. has been experi- 
menting for the past three years at Elko, Nevada. 

„ ,. , The shale deposit is 6 feet thick, dips 
Catlm Plant, , % i 

Elko, Ne- at an angle ot 25 degrees, and aver- 
vada a g es 5Q g a ii ons f oil to the ton. The 

only mining of shale to a depth sufficient to 
give information of underground conditions has 
been done here. An inclined shaft was put down 
to a distance of 370 feet, with drifts at the 100, 
200, and 300 foot levels. The use of 25 per cent 
powder— low freezing dynamite — gave satisfac- 
tory results. No change in the character of the 
shale was found in any part of the workings from 
the outcrop to the lowest faces. No timbering 



HISTORY OF OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 43 

has been needed and the roof has remained intact 
for three years. The record of accounts shows that 
from seven to ten tons of shale can be produced 
daily for each man employed underground — 
machine men, trammers, muckers, and boss — at an 
average cost of $1.25 a ton. Auger drills are used. 
No gas has been found. The shale is run out of 
the mouth of the mine, broken to three-inch size 
by spiked tooth rolls, and all, fine and coarse, is 
fed into the top of the retorts. The retorts are 
eight in number, arranged in a circle, 16 feet high, 
54 inches in diameter, and covered with non- 
conducting material. The retorts have a com- 
bined capacity of 100 tons a day or 5,000 gallons 
of crude oil. Heat is applied at 850-900°F. 
The feed is intermittent. The units of the 
plant are as follows: retorts, condenser, oil 
stills, agitator, wax plant, gas producer, and 
storage tanks. The crude oil has a pronounced 
paraffin base and produces the following market- 
able products : distillate, kerosene, lubricating oil, 
wax, and gasoline. Water for the plant is pumped 
from the Humboldt river, a distance of 4,600 feet 
to an elevation of 300 feet. Raw shale is burned 
successfully under the boilers. The oil and gas 
vapors are drawn from the retort at a point two 
feet from the top and carried to the condenser. 
The spent shale from the bottom of the retorts is 
carried to a gas producer where sufficient addi- 
tional gas is produced for the use of the plant 
Even though all the experimental work thus far 



44 OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 

has been done on a commercial basis, yet the com- 
pany regards the work as still experimental and 
has made no formal report of details and actual 
results. 

At Grand Valley, Colorado, the Consumers Oil 
and Shale Company of Chicago and the Grand 
Valley Oil and Shale Company have 
spent $25,000 in building roads to 
their property, preparing building sites, erecting 
buildings, all preparatory to erecting a 150-ton 
retort. The total cost is expected to be $150,000. 
In the Grand Valley region alone there has al- 
ready been expended more than $100,000 in acquir- 
ing land, building roads, carrying on experimental 
work, and in the various expenses incidental to a 
new industry. 

The Mt. Logan Oil Shale Mining and Refining 
Company at De Beque, Colorado, has in process of 
erection a Simplex retort of commercial size, 
manufactured by the Stearns-Roger Manufactur- 
ing Company, Pueblo, Colorado. 

The Continental Oil Shale Mining and Refining 
Company has completed a 50-ton plant, known as 
the Colorado Continuous Shale Process, designed 
by Hartley and Dormann, Engineers, Denver, in 
Rio Blanco County, Colorado, and has made a suc- 
cessful run. Bad weather and deep snow have, 
however, prevented further work till the spring of 
1920, when the company expects to renew opera- 
tions and to run continuously on a commercial 
scale. 



HISTORY OF OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 45 

At the Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Col- 
orado, three retorts — experimental, but of com- 
mercial size — are in the process of erection. These 
retorts will enable tests on a commercial scale to 
be made for the general good of the industry. 

The Bureau of Mines has established an oil 
shale laboratory at the University of Utah, Salt 
Lake City, Utah, for general scientific 
investigation of oil shales, but no re- 
port of the work done is now available. The Ute 
Oil Company of St. Louis, Mo., is erecting and has 
nearly completed, a complete retorting and refin- 
ing plant 14 miles from Watson, Utah, to cost 
$350,000. The structure is of concrete and steel 
with automatic mechanical equipment throughout. 
The capacity is rated at 400 tons daily. At Dragon, 
Utah, the Western Shale Oil Company has com- 
pleted the first unit of a 50-ton plant. The sur- 
face shale yields 50 gallons of oil to the ton. 



CHAPTER IV 

MINING 

The methods of mining any particular deposit 
of shale must be adapted to local conditions. Two 
methods suggest themselves — the 
open cut and the underground. Open 
cut work will be used in certain special localities 
around Watson, Utah, Grand Valley, and De 
Beque, Colorado, and Carlin, Nevada, where there 
is little overburden, where steam shovels may be 
used, where the average oil content of the entire 
deposit is of commercial grade, where sites for the 
retorts are available, and where there is ample 
dumping space. In such favorable localities the 
cost of mining will be very low. In localities where 
there is a rich stratum of shale from 10 to 20 feet 
thick, giving 50 to 60 gallons of oil to the ton, it 
may be deemed more advantageous, for practical 
and economic reasons in the early stages of the 
industry, to mine the richest shale first. In such 
cases underground mining — the room and pillar 
method of coal mining operations— will probably 
be adopted. In this method of mining, adits are 
cut into the beds of coal; at intervals cross cuts 
are made at right angles to the adits, and from 

46 



MINING 47 

these so-called rooms are turned off. Pillars of a 
size necessary to support the roof are left along 
the adits, the cross cuts, and the rooms. A large 
percentage of shale must be left, but this is incon- 
sequential on account of the great extent of the 
deposits. It goes without saying that to open an 
underground oil shale deposit properly, a definite 
plan of development must be outlined, mechanical 
ventilation supplied, provision made for rapid and 
economical haulage, and the numerous appliances 
provided for handling a very large tonnage in an 
efficient and economical way. In the mining of coal 
the size and form of the coal as mined has a com- 
mercial importance. Not so in the case of shale, 
where all goes to the spiked rolls and is broken to 
size for the retorts. Hence, powder can be more 
fully used than in mining coal, the cost of mining 
thereby reduced, and the tonnage increased. 

The ordinary roll of jaw crushers or ball mills 
used to crush metallic ores do not seem to apply 
well in reducing shale to a size suit- 
able for the retorts. Some American Breakin s 
firms have placed crushers on the market which 
appear to do satisfactory work. The Scotch type 
which has proved successful is that of spiked rolls. 
The spikes are placed spirally on the rolls, and are 
removable so as to make repairs, in case of break- 
age, without serious loss of time. In reducing 
metallic ores crushing is not objectionable. In 
reducing shale the fundamental principle to be 
followed is that shale must be broken, not crushed. 



■■ 



48 OIL SHALE INDUSTBY 

Beducing devices that follow this principle will 
probably succeed. Spiked rolls are based on this 
principle, but other forms are not impossible. 
Experience in Scotch plants has shown that more 
satisfactory results are obtained in the distilla- 
tion of oil shale, if the fine material, say less than 
0.25 inch in size, be screened from the bulk of the 
broken shale and the two screened products be 
treated separately. The fine material is not sent 
to the distillation plants for treatment as a rule, 
but is used in the mines for filling purposes. 

A new industry must be classified so as to come 

under established laws. The mining of shale, 

whether open cut or underground, will 

Sns S RegU " come under the Federal and State 
mining laws. A retorting plant will be 
classified as a metallurgical operation and will 
come under the same regulations. Some coal min- 
ing men are fearful that in mining shale explosive 
dust will be formed and accidents will follow. 
However, the deepest mining of shale in the 
United States, 370 feet at the Catlin plant, Elko, 
Nevada, has resulted in no dust nor gas explo- 
sions. The literature of the shale industry in 
Prance and Scotland for nearly seventy years, 
contains no account, as far as known, of dust or 
gas explosions, even though powder has been 
used. 

Up to the present time thorough miner-like 
sampling of the oil shale, in a large and conclu- 
sive way, has not been possible. Natural difficul- 
ties have prevented. The slopes below the per- 



MINING 49 

pendicular cliffs can be easily scaled, but to sam- 
ple, by a groove, a hundred or more feet of per- 
pendicular cliff without being let down from above, 
is well-nigh impossible. In places Testing Q il 
where descending streams have cut in- Shale 
to the rock, access is possible to the roun 
higher strata, but on the whole such sampling is in- 
complete and not altogether satisfactory except for 
preliminary investigations. The most satisfactory 
method of sampling these strata is by means of the 
diamond drill. The equipment for this work can 
be obtained sectionalized so that it can all be car- 
ried on burros or mules, by trail to the mesa 
ground above the oil shale beds. Here the equip- 
ment can be installed and a diamond drill hole can 
be put down as far as desired. Since the diamond 
drill produces a solid core of the rock it pierces, 
the width of each stratum passed through can be 
accurately determined. Also the core will furnish 
a sample of shale large enough to be tested and 
the oil content determined. In this way a large 
acreage can be cheaply and efficiently sampled, the 
thickness of each stratum of oil shale measured, 
the oil value of any and every stratum determined, 
and the total value of the acreage accurately esti- 
mated. Such knowledge would be an intelligent 
guide to the cheapest method of mining, whether 
the entire hillside by the open cut method, or the 
underground mining of the richest seams. 

The oil leasing bill approved February 25, 1920, 
contained the following sections applicable to oil 
shale deposits. 



50 OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 

Section 21. That the Secretary of the Interior is 
hereby authorized to lease to any person or cor- 
L *np- f portion qualified under this Act any 
Oil Shale deposits of oil shale belonging to the 
an United States and the surface of so 

much of the public lands containing such deposits, 
or land adjacent thereto, as may be required for 
the extraction and reduction of the leased min- 
erals, under such rules and regulations, not incon- 
sistent with this Act, as he may prescribe; that no 
lease hereunder shall exceed five thousand one 
hundred and twenty acres of land, to be described 
by the legal subdivisions of the public land sur- 
veys, or if unsurveyed, to be surveyed by the 
United States, at the expense of the applicant, in 
accordance with regulations to be prescribed by 
the Secretary of the Interior. Leases may be for 
indeterminate periods, upon such conditions as 
may be imposed by the Secretary of the Interior, 
including covenants relative to methods of min- 
ing, prevention of waste, and productive develop- 
ment. For the privilege of mining, extracting, and 
disposing of the oil or other minerals covered by 
a lease under this section the lessee shall pay to 
the United States such royalties as shall be speci- 
fied in the lease and an annual rental, payable at 
the beginning of each year, at the rate of 50 cents 
per acre per annum, for the lands included in the 
lease, the rental paid for any one year to be 
credited against the royalties accruing for that 
year ; such royalties to be subject to readjustment 



MINING 51 

at the end of each twenty-year period by the Sec- 
retary of the Interior: Provided, That for the 
purpose of encouraging the production of petro- 
leum products from shales the Secretary may, in 
his discretion, waive the payment of any royalty 
and rental during the first five years of any lease ; 
Provided, That any person having a valid claim 
to such minerals under existing laws on January 1, 
1919, shall, upon the relinquishment of such claim, 
be entitled to a lease under the provisions of this 
section for such area of the land relinquished as 
shall not exceed the maximum area authorized by 
this section to be leased to an individual or cor- 
poration : Provided, however, That no claimant for 
a lease who has been guilty of any fraud or who 
had knowledge or reasonable grounds to know of 
any fraud, or who has not acted honestly and in 
good faith, shall be entitled to any of the benefits 
of this section : Provided, further, That not more 
than one lease shall be granted under this section 
to any one person, association, or corporation. 

Sec. 37. That the deposits of coal, phosphate, 
sodium, oil, oil shale, and gas, herein referred to, 
in lands valuable for such minerals shall be subject 
to disposition only in the form and manner pro- 
vided in this Act, except as to valid claims exist- 
ent at date of the passage of this Act and there- 
after maintained in compliance with the laws 
under which initiated, which claims may bo per- 
fected under such laws, including discovery. 



CHAPTER V 

RETORTING AND REDUCTION 

Petroleum, whether obtained from wells or re- 
sulting from retorting oil shale, is a mixture of 
N f hydrocarbon compounds. These be- 

Shale Oil long to one of two series — the paraffin, 

or the olefine series. Those which con- 
sist chiefly of the paraffin series are designated 
paraffin base oils; those which consist chiefly of 
the olefine series are designated as asphalt base 
oils. Some oils are distinctly paraffin base oils, 
some asphalt base, and some mixtures. Thus the 
shale at Elko, Nevada, has a decided paraffin base, 
but that at Carlin, Nevada, an asphalt base. Most 
of the shale of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming, 
however, have a paraffin base, though they carry 
some asphaltum. The curly strata in Parachute 
creek, Colorado, carry about five per cent of 
asphaltum. 

In the present pioneer stage of the oil shale 
industry, the importance of the retort cannot be 
j overestimated; it is the key to the 

of the Re- entire situation. That shale has been 

successfully retorted and the crude oil 
refined in Scotland for nearly seventy years is no 
reason in itself that the same process, successful 

52 



RETORTING AND REDUCTION 53 

there, can be bodily transplanted elsewhere and be 
successful. Varieties in the character of the shale, 
climatic and economic conditions, and the available 
markets for the products all combine to make the 
solution of the problem unique. Because of this 
condition, American engineers and chemists of 
the highest ability — and some not so able — have 
been busy, during the past few years, in trying to 
devise a retort that will treat American shales 
successfully. What is needed is a simple retort 
which is economical in construction, treats the 
maximum tonnage per day, and is constructed not 
primarily for the purpose of producing by-prod- 
ucts with all the expensive complications that go 
with them, but designed for the special purpose of 
producing the maximum amount of crude oil. It 
is important that this oil be not spoiled in the 
making, but be of a superior quality. Such a retort 
will undoubtedly secure some of the by-products. 
It may be desirable, in certain localities where the 
nitrogen content is high, to secure not only the 
maximum of oil, but also the maximum ammonium 
sulphate and to make special effort to this end in 
the construction of a retort. Scotch practice has 
not advanced materially in recent years, so that 
there is a wide and fertile field for experimenta- 
tion and research. 

In order to get an idea of what occurs in the 
process of producing oil from shale a few princi- 
ples and laws of organic chemistry must be made 
clear. A hydrocarbon is primarily a compound 



54 OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 

of the elements hydrogen and carbon, but com- 
binations of these two with other elements are not 
excluded. Hydrocarbons occur from 
Principles ^ ne smi pi e st to those of the most com- 
plex nature and are almost limitless 
in number. Some are gases, others liquids, and 
still others are solid. The hydrocarbons in petro- 
leum and shale oil may be divided into two general 
classes, saturated and unsaturated. In the satu- 
rated compounds the carbon element has absorbed 
or combined with all the hydrogen possible. Un- 
saturated hydrocarbons contain carbon that still 
has reserve power to combine with hydrogen. 
Shale oil consists mainly of liquid or dissolved 
hydrocarbons. A large proportion of these hydro- 
carbons are saturated, but unsaturated varieties 
are also always present. These are undesirable 
and must not be present in the refined oil. The 
first process of producing oil from shale is known 
as destructive distillation, or primary decomposi- 
tion. If, however, the vapors are subjected to 
further great heat, secondary decomposition re- 
sults. Secondary decomposition is undesirable. 
The chemical processes involved are complex and 
not easily understood by the layman, but a homely 
illustration may help. Speaking popularly, we 
may say the shale must be cooked. The ingredients 
to form bread — flour, water, salt, yeast, sugar, 
milk, and shortening — are mixed and form dough. 
But dough is not bread until it is -cooked ; then it 
becomes bread. So it is with shale. The organic 



V 



EETORTING AND REDUCTION 55 

ingredients of oil and gas — called kerogen — are in 
the shale. When the shale is cooked, technically 
destructively distilled, oil and gas are the result- 
ants. 

The oil shale industry will unquestionably 
become of enormous importance in the near future, 
and may be said, even now, to have 
passed the experimental stage. The s tructive 
industry in Scotland has been in ^rJ^sh 1 } 
profitable existence nearly seventy 
years, but the methods used are apparently not 
well adaptable to American shales, so that much 
experimental work has been done in this country 
to determine the most economical and most pro- 
ductive methods of treating our oil shales. Satis- 
factory results have been attained in a number of 
cases and experimental plants have been installed 
that bid fair to lead to commercial success. Not- 
withstanding the excellent results that have been 
realized in some of the experimental researches, 
much still remains to be done. Not all the factors 
for commercial competitive success have been 
demonstrated or necessarily attained. Dissemi- 
nated more or less thickly through oil shale is a 
substance of a hydrocarbon nature, to which the 
name kerogen has been given. This is the source 
of the oil. When the shale is subjected to sufficient 
heat in a retort, that is, destructively distilled, the 
kerogen is decomposed into a number of products, 
mostly volatile, of which the most important, com- 
mercially, are oil, ammonia, and permanent 



56 OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 

inflammable gas. These may be recovered from 
the escaping vapors and separated from each 
other by a suitable system of condensation and 
absorption. The oil resembles well petroleum, the 
ammonia forms the basis of a valuable fertilizer, 
and the gas may be utilized as at least a partial 
source of heat in conducting further operations. 

The oil and gas, themselves hydrocarbons, re- 
sult from the decomposition of the original hydro- 
carbons in the shale. The ammonia is produced 
from combined nitrogen which is always found in 
the shale in small amount. The temperature neces- 
sary for the destructive distillation of the kerogen 
in the shale may be roughly indicated as follows : 
at 212 °F. a little gas begins to be evolved, but the 
decomposition is slight until a red heat is 
approached. At 750 °F. the distillation may be 
carried to completion. The spent shale is desig- 
nated as carbonized and is colored black by de- 
posited carbon. A temperature of about 700 °F. 
is probably all that is actually necessary for com- 
plete decomposition. 

To obtain uniform products distillation is by no 
means a simple procedure. It is found that the 
same shale will yield varying amounts of oil and 
other products by simply varying the conditions 
of the distillation. The more oil produced, the less 
gas, and vice versa. Furthermore, the larger the 
yield of oil the better its quality. Since oil is the 
most valuable product, the conditions of the dis- 
tillation that will result in the maximum yield of 



RETORTING AND REDUCTION 57 

oil is of the greatest importance. Both petroleum 
and shale oil consist mainly of liquid hydrocar- 
bons; the hydrocarbons not liquid at ordinary 
temperatures are dissolved in the others. These 
hydrocarbons may be divided into two varieties, 
saturated and unsaturated. Most of the hydro- 
carbons in petroleum and shale oil are of the 
saturated variety, but there are always some of the 
unsaturated hydrocarbons present. They are un- 
desirable constituents, as they have not the sta- 
bility of saturated compounds and are liable to 
decompose and communicate color and odor to any 
colorless distillates containing them. They are 
therefore to be removed as far as possible by 
refining, which is, of course, an item of cost and 
loss of oil. The more unsaturates present the less 
refined oil is obtained per gallon of crude. 

All shale oil contains unsaturated compounds; 
the amount present in different samples of oil 
from the same shale may be quite variable, and 
depend upon the conditions of distillation. They 
are some of the results of the process called crack- 
ing, whereby saturated compounds, under the 
action of sufficient heat, are more or less broken 
up or cracked into other compounds. No way of 
distilling oil shale has yet been found that yielded 
oil free from unsaturates. They appear to be 
produced at the outset, during what may be termed 
the primary decomposition, but their formation 
may not stop at this point. If the vaporized oils, 
in escaping From the retort, encounter greatly in- 



58 OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 

creased heat, a secondary decomposition or crack- 
ing takes place with the production of an increased 
amount of unsaturated compounds. Furthermore, 
if the vapors are allowed to cool, and perhaps par- 
tially condense, before leaving the retort, as in the 
upper part of a charge, some of the condensed oil 
may drip back into hotter places and suffer re- 
vaporization, and the remainder will eventually 
all be re-vaporized as the place of condensation 
gets hotter or the charge settles. This re-vapor- 
ization results in more cracking and the produc- 
tion of more unsaturated compounds. In other 
words, the best quality of shale oil, as originally 
formed at a proper heat in the primary decompo- 
sition, will crack more or less, with the formation 
of an increased amount of unsaturates, if redis- 
tilled, or if its vapors are subjected to overheat- 
ing. Since this is the nature of shale oil in its 
relation to heat, the necessary conditions for pro- 
ducing the maximum yield are indicated. 

First, the distillation should be conducted at 
the lowest practicable temperature, to lessen the 
primary cracking of the oil vapors as much as 
possible. Secondly, secondary decomposition, or 
additional cracking of the evolved vapors, should 
be prevented by seeing that they are not over- 
heated during their escape from the retort, and, 
also, by not permitting them to condense, so as to 
require re-vaporization before their final escape. 
A method of distillation, properly carried out on 
these lines, should yield the maximum quantity of 



RETORTING AND REDUCTION 59 

oil, and oil of the best quality. In one of the re- 
cently constructed American experimental plants, 
these considerations are recognized and provided 
for. The inventor claims to have obtained from 
20 to 30 per cent greater yield of oil from the same 
composite sample of shale than when the volatile 
products were not so protected. He used dry heat 
alone, and the invention embodies the peculiar 
construction of the retort, the method of applying 
heat, the arrangement for withdrawing the vapors 
without condensation or overheating in the retort, 
and a consideration of the amount of shale to be 
economically carbonized at one time. 

Consider what may be expected to happen if oil 
shale is distilled in a vertical iron retort, with top 
exit, without special precautions. Let the retort 
be two-thirds full of broken shale and a strong' 
heat be applied at the bottom and all around the 
lower outside. The shale next to the walls distills 
first, while the interior portions and top are still 
comparatively cool. The outside shale will become 
carbonized and spent, shrinking somewhat from 
the walls, while the interior portions still are dis- 
tilling. The vapors from the interior portions 
will seek the easiest channels of escape, which are 
out through the hot spent shale and up against the 
hot walls through the shrinkage space. The con- 
ditions are thus seen to be unfavorable for pro- 
ducing the maximum yield of oil. Unsaturates and 
gas will be formed in undue amount, at the ex- 
pense of good oil. 



60 OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 

It is claimed that steam must be injected into 
the retort for various reasons. It has been shown 
that, both in experimental work and in European 
commercial plants, the.use of steam has diminished 
the amount of unsaturates and increased the yield 
of ammonia. In the Scotch process, for example, 
it is stated that without steam the amount of 
ammonia is lessened and other nitrogen com- 
pounds, of an undesirable nature, such as pyridine, 
are formed. In cases where steam has appeared 
advantageous or necessary, no special attention 
appears to have been paid to carry out the distilla- 
tion along what appear to be the best lines. While 
the question is still a mooted one, it may be well to 
consider carefully the possible effect of steam. 

First, as regards the oil. It may act simply to 
equalize the temperature, preventing the forma- 
tion of places that are too hot and too cool, thus 
diminishing the production of unsaturates. 
Second, as regards ammonia. Nitrogen, in combi- 
nation, exists in oil shale in appreciable quantity, 
perhaps as complex ammonia compounds or other- 
wise. During the distillation, the ammonia com- 
pounds may give off ammonia, either free or in 
combination. Free nitrogen and hydrogen, at the 
moment of their production, may unite to form 
ammonia. One recent investigator claims his 
experiments show that practically all the available 
ammonia may be obtained without the use of steam 
if proper temperature conditions are observed. 
According to his tests the most favorable tern- 



RETORTING AND REDUCTION 61 

perature for obtaining the maximum yield of am- 
monia is about 735 °F. If the ammonia once formed 
is subjected to a further increase of temperature, 
it is liable to be more or less decomposed into its 
constituents, nitrogen and hydrogen. It will begin 
to decompose at a little below 940°F., and at about 
1440°F. the decomposition is complete. Where 
the temperature is not otherwise controlled, it is 
thus possible that if steam is used it again acts as 
an equalizer. By preventing excessive cracking 
of the oil vapors it may also prevent the occur- 
rence of the conditions under which the undesir- 
able nitrogen compounds are formed, at the same 
time preventing the decomposition of any ammonia 
once formed. It is difficult to see how steam can 
aid in the formation of ammonia during the distil- 
lation of the oil by any chemical interaction. 

There is said to be a small amount of nitrogen 
that remains in a non-volatile condition in the 
spent shale. Steam could probably form ammonia 
from this at a sufficiently high temperature by 
interaction with the carbon also always present, 
but in American shales the nitrogen that might 
thus be utilized is said to be very trifling, perhaps 
one-tenth of one per cent, or less, of the residue. 
Notwithstanding the theoretical considerations 
that indicate steam as unnecessary, it' proper heat 
conditions are otherwise maintained, it remains a 
fact that experimental plants recently constructed, 
or now under construction, provide for the intro- 



62 OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 

duction of steam to the retort, should occasion 
appear to demand it. 

Where steam is used, a number of disadvan- 
tages are said to arise, the most important of 
which may be enumerated as follows : It is cus- 
tomary to use as much as one-half ton of steam 
for each ton of shale retorted. The volatile 
products coming from the retort are thus so in- 
creased as to require a condensing apparatus 
several times larger than would be otherwise 
required. This increases the cost of condensation 
by a like amount. The heat units carried away 
from the retort by the steam nearly equal what 
are required to decompose the shale. Oil and 
water are condensed together and form an emul- 
sion that is very slow in separating by settling. 
This necessitates increased storage facilities and 
involves loss of time. On account of these alleged 
disadvantages it would seem inadvisable to use 
steam if its use can be avoided. However, the 
question still appears to be a mooted one and it 
would be unwise to consider it settled. 

Another matter of importance in the distilla- 
tion of shale relates to the thickness of the mass 
of shale that can be economically treated. Shale 
is a very poor conductor of heat and there is evi- 
dently an economical limit to the distance heat 
must penetrate to completely carbonize the shale 
farthest from its source. Suppose a mass of shale 
broken to 1.50 inch fragments be placed between 
two vertical iron walls and heated from one side 



RETORTING AND REDUCTION 63 

only until completely spent or carbonized. When 
the horizontal thickness of the bed is six inches 
twice as much heat is required as when it is only 
four inches. In other words, an increase of fifty 
per cent of thickness necessitates one hundred 
per cent more heat. Two beds of four inches 
thickness will therefore require no more heat than 
one bed of six inches, This matter evidently re- 
quires careful consideration in the construction 
of a retort. 

Up to this point, the shale is regarded to be at 
rest, that is, not agitated, while being distilled. 
Although the principles thus far formulated 
appear to apply with equal force in any case, the 
devices for attaining the end in view may vary 
greatly. Horizontal retorts have been devised in 
which the shale in an upper retort is gradually 
moved by screw conveyors into a second and third 
retort placed underneath. Heat is applied to the 
lowest retort and passes upward to the others. 
Thus a gradual heating of the shale is effected, 
and while complete carbonization may take place 
only in the lowest retort, the heat in the others 
may be sufficient to start the distillation of the 
lighter oils, which, if desired, may be withdrawn 
from the retorts where they are produced and 
condensed separately and thus ciTect a partial 
refining during the primary distillation. The 
comparative economic value of any devices for the 
distillation of shale can be determined, of course, 
only by practical testing on a fairly large scale. 



64 OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 

The principal apparent requirements in the dis- 
tillation of oil shale in order to obtain the maxi- 
. mum yield of oil, and that of the best 

ments for a quality, may be summarized as f ol- 

SuCCeSSful IrwiTQ . 

Retort l0WS ' 

1. Use of the lowest possible heat 
in the distillation, so as to have a minimum of 
primary decomposition or cracking of the oily 
vapors. 

2. Avoid overheating and the ensuing second- 
ary decomposition of the vapors during their 
escape from the retort. This consideration is of 
the highest importance. 

3. Avoid any condensation of oil in the retort, 
necessitating. re-vaporization with the production 
of undesirable products on account of secondary 
decomposition. 

4. Consider the alleged disadvantages attribu- 
ted to the use of steam and avoid its use if 
possible. 

5. As an economic consideration, take into 
account the thickness of the mass of shale to be 
most economically treated at one time. 

In addition to the technical features necessary 
in a retort certain practical and economic consid- 
erations are worthy of notice. 

a. The site of a retort should be so selected 
that the supply of shale be well above the breakers 
and yet, below the retorts, there should be ample 
dumpirg ground. These two factors are neces- 
sary in order to reduce the cost of moving the 




OIL SHALE CLIFF. UTAH 



__! 



RETORTING AND REDUCTION 65 

shale to the retorts and disposing of the spent 
shale. The importance of a good site cannot be 
emphasized too strongly because, from the 
mechanical point of view, shale retorting consists, 
in part, of moving a hill from one place and put- 
ting it in another. 

b. The retort should be placed as close as pos- 
sible to the shale to be treated. The most favor- 
able location is beside an outcrop where all the 
shale above the retort is of commercial value, can 
be quarried, and run at once through the retort. 
The next favorable location is just below the out- 
cropping of a rich stratum of shale. In this case 
the shale must be mined and an extensive system 
of underground work planned. 

c. If possible, the feed should be continuous 
and not only the oil and gas removed continuously, 
but also the spent shale. 

d. Another practical consideration that must 
not be overlooked is an ample water supply. This 
may be obtained from valley streams, from im- 
pounded waters, or from wells, but it must be 
obtained, for without it a shale deposit would bo 
valueless. 

e. Other factors such as good wagon roads, 
nearness to railroads, timber, labor supply, camp 
facilities, and similar features are all worthy of 
consideration, but are not so essential in the early 
stages of the industry as the technical features 
and the first three considerations. 

f. From the chemical and physical laws which 



66 OIL SHALE INDUSTBY 

govern the action of distillation it is evident that 
the process must be carried on in fairly small 
units, but a complete plant will consist of many 
such units. Consequently, the unit should have as 
large a daily capacity as possible. 

g. Since the industry is one of large tonnage, 
hand labor should have little or no place in a 
plant. Accessory machinery should be automatic, 
mechanical, and, as far as possible, fool proof. 

It is proposed in one American process to meet 
these requirements by means of a horizontal re- 
tort built in sections; shale is fed in at one end 
continuously, kept at a depth of from 1.50 to 2 
inches, and advanced by means of a series of 
transverse baffles ; heat is furnished by nichrome 
heating elements imbedded beneath the floor of 
the retort; the temperature can thus be controlled 
so that each section of the retort can be heated 
to any required degree ; at the top of each section 
is an outlet for the oily vapors as soon as they 
are formed : the gas produced is used in an inter- 
nal combustion engine which operates a dynamo 
for the production of the electric current needed. 

The first commercial plants will undoubtedly be 
erected in choice locations, where the natural 
advantages are the best. It should be noted, how- 
ever, that there is a great difference between such 
favored plants, erected under the most favorable 
conditions, and the development of the oil shale 
industry on a scale large enough to replace the 
present huge well petroleum industry. 



RETORTING AND REDUCTION 67 

Although the production of oil from shale has 
been a profitable industry in Scotland since 1850, 
it is not to be assumed that the scotch 
methods so successful there can be Shales Com- 
introduced here with equal success. American 
Just as a single method of producing Shales 
copper from ore will not apply equally well to all 
copper ores, so a single method of retorting oil 
shale will not apply equally well to Scotch shale 
and to all varieties of American shale. There are 
greater differences between American shales 
themselves, than between any one of them and 
the typical Scotch shale. The style and method of 
retorting must, therefore, be determined, by 
experiment, to fit the character of shale to be 
treated. The main differences between the char- 
acteristic Scotch shale and the American shales 
are these : In the Scotch shales the silica content 
is low, and the alumina content high, but in the 
American shales silica predominates and the 
alumina is low; the Scotch shales uniformly con- 
tain more nitrogen than the American shales, but 
the American shales uniformly produce more oil: 
in the American shales the oil content is sufficient 
to make oil production commercially profitable 
with ammonium sulphate a by-product, but in 
Scotland the oil content is too low to be profitable 
without the ammonium sulphate. Tims the rela- 
tive positions of oil and ammonium sulphate are 
not the same in the two countries. The Scotch 
shales, as now worked, do not yield, on the aver- 



. 



68 OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 

age, more than 15 gallons of oil to the ton. 
American shales over large workable areas will 
yield 42 gallons to the ton. The Scotch shales lie 
far below the surface, are in irregular beds, 
faulted and folded, and vary greatly from place to 
place in oil content. American shales, on the other 
hand, in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming especially, 
lie from one thousand to twenty-five hundred feet 
above the river beds, exposed as horizontal strata 
in vertical cliffs, easily mined, and are of com- 
paratively uniform oil content over large areas. 
American shale oil yields a higher percentage of 
gasoline, motor oil, and kerosene than the Scotch 
crude shale oil; an equal amount of lubricating 
oil and gas oil; but less ammonium sulphate. 

A standard Scotch (Pumpherston) retort is 
composed of two main sections, one above the 
p he other. The upper one is constructed 

ton (Scotch) of iron, 15 feet high ; the lower one of 
Retort fire brick, 20 feet high. Shale is fed 

in at the top and, in the iron section, is subjected 
to a heat of from 750 to 900°F. Here the oil and 
gas are distilled. The shale then is let down to 
the lower, or fire brick, section where it is sub- 
jected to a temperature of 1300°F. or more. 
Steam is injected and ammonia is produced by the 
hydrogen in the steam uniting with the nitrogen 
in the shale. The typical American retort will 
probably be constructed on simpler lines than the 
Scotch retort. But even for the various Ameri- 
can shales modifications in the construction of 



RETORTING AND REDUCTION 69 

the retort are required for the different charac- 
ters of shales. Their behavior is not always the 
same when subjected to heat and superheated 
steam, although a preliminary examination in the 
laboratory may not suggest this. 

In Scotland the condensation of the gaseous 
products issuing from the retorts is accomplished 
by passing them through a long and „ , 

J , L . & * • -ix Condenser 

extensive series of pipes exposed to 
the atmosphere, the temperature of which is 
depended upon to cool and consequently condense 
the vapors. It is probable, however, that a more 
efficient type of water cooled condenser will be 
adopted in this country, on account of the climatic 
conditions, which vary greatly between Scotland 
and our western country. 

The scrubber consists of a vertical pipe 
approximately 24 inches in diameter and 30 feet 
high. With exception of the upper Ammoni 
and lower parts, four feet long each, Scrubber 
the pipe is filled with diamond shaped ant 
wooden baffles, placed in alternate layers at a 
small distance from each other, in such a manner, 
that each baffle in a layer covers a corresponding 
opening in the succeeding upper and lower layers 
of baffles. The permanent gas from the con- 
denser enters the pipe column near its bottom and, 
ascending through the layers of baffles, meets a 
descending spray of water, which absorbs any 
ammonia that may be still loft in the permanent 
gas. The resulting ammonia water, which may be 



70 OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 

re-used for this purpose, leaves the pipe column 
near its bottom by a pipe line, which transports 
it to the storage tanks for ammonia water for 
treatment in the sulphate of ammonium precipi- 
tating plant. The gas, after ascending over the 
baffles in the pipe column, leaves the latter at its 
top by a pipe line which conducts it to the bottom 
of a similar pipe column, also filled with baffles as 
described. 

The gas, in its ascent over the baffles, meets a 
spray of oil entering at the top of the pipe column 
Ga olin Ab an( ^ descending over the baffles to- 
sorption wards the bottom of the column pipe. 

The oil used for this purpose is 
specifically heavier than gasoline and absorbs any 
of the latter that may be present in the gas. It 
has been found that from two to four gallons of 
gasoline may thus be extracted from the gas per 
thousand cubic feet of the latter, or from four 
to eight gallons per ton of western oil. The final 
permanent gas, deprived of its gasoline, leaves the 
pipe column at its top and is conducted to the gas 
reservoir, to be eventually used as fuel. 

The oil charged with the gasoline absorbed from 
the gas may then be treated in the plant used by 
the United States Geological Survey, in making 
tests on a commercial scale for the extraction of 
gasoline from natural gas. This plant, according 
to the statement of the Geological Survey, has 
given very satisfactory results and is simple and 
economical as far as installation and operation 



RETORTING AND REDUCTION 71 

are concerned, and is adapted to the needs of an 
oil shale plant of one hundred tons daily capacity. 
It operates as follows : The oil, charged with the 
gasoline absorbed from the gas, is first conducted 
to a horizontal so-called weathering tank — an 
ordinary plate steel cylinder, one foot six inches 
in diameter and twelve feet long. This tank has a 
relief valve at its upper circumference, through 
which the lighter parts of the gasoline escape as 
vapors, which may be conducted to a heat ex- 
changer, where it is preheated by the hot oil 
returning from the still to the absorbing tower 
for re-use. From this heat exchanger the pre- 
heated oil, charged with the gasoline absorbed 
from the gas, is conducted to a still operated by 
live steam. Here the gasoline is expelled from the 
oil and the vapors are conducted to a cooler box, 
where the water is separated from the gasoline. 
The latter goes to a condenser and the condensate, 
after refining, is ready for the market. The hot 
oil remaining in the still, after having been freed 
from the gasoline, is conducted through the heat 
exchanger, where it travels through pipes in the 
opposite direction to the cold oil charged with 
gasoline, passing to the still, preheating the latter 
liquid. After having transferred the great part 
of its heat to the oil passing to the still, it is con- 
ducted through water cooled coils to the absorp- 
tion tower for re-use. 

Ammonia liquor, which was formerly regarded 
as a nuisance, has meant, in many cases, the dif- 



72 OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 

ference between success and failure in the Scotch 
treatment plants. Until 1865, the ammonia liquor 
which forms a large portion of the to- 
Li^o°r nia tal distillate, was thrown away. Rob- 
ert Bell, of Broxburn, is given credit 
for being the first to treat the water for the pro- 
duction of ammonium sulphate. Of the Scotch 
shales, those which produced small amounts of oil 
were generally those which produced the largest 
yield of ammonium sulphate. From preliminary 
examination of the shale of Colorado and other 
western states, the yield of ammonium sulphate 
from these sources is independent of the yield of 
oil. In producing ammonium sulphate from the 
liquor, the procedure is similar to that followed in 
gas works. The methods and apparatus devised 
by Beilby and Henderson are the most satisfac- 
tory. In the tower still of Beilby, the ammonia 
is expelled by raising the liquor to the boiling 
point by means of direct steam. The Henderson 
still effects the same purpose, but with a smaller 
amount of steam. The ammoniacal vapors are then 
conducted into what is known as the cracker box, 
which is a vessel containing sulphuric acid. As 
the absorption is usually not complete in the first 
box, the vapors are passed over into a second. 
The acid used in the first box is usually waste, 
recovered from different steps in the refining of 
the oil. The second box contains acid of 1.4 spe- 
cific gravity, which insures complete conversion. 
The first crystals of ammonium sulphate are large 



RETORTING AND REDUCTION 73 

and may be dried by spreading in a suitable room ; 
the smaller crystals are dried by means of cen- 
trifugal machines. The salt obtained is pure 
enough to be used as a fertilizer. 

The ammonia water coming from the separa- 
tors, which segregated it from the oil, together 
eventually with the ammonia water Sulphate of 
coming from the scrubber, is con- Ammonia 
ducted to a column apparatus, where 
the ammonia gas is evaporated. This column 
apparatus is constructed of ten sections of cast 
iron, twenty-four inches in diameter, twenty-eight 
feet high. The sections are provided with flanges 
at their ends and bolted together to form a verti- 
cal column of the size stated. Within this column 
there are seventeen shelves, at equal distances 
apart, cast in one piece with the sections. Three 
nozzles tapering from 2.5 inches in diameter to 1.5 
inch and 4 inches long, are cast with the shelves. 
Extending upwards and over the shelves a hood 
or bell is fastened at a distance of about one-half 
inch above the orifice of the nozzles. The bottom 
of this bell is cut out zig-zag shape to a height of 
two inches in such a manner that the lower part 
of the mantle of the bell represents about one- 
half metal and one-half opening. A two-inch 
nipple extends from a point three inches above 
each shelf to a point about three inches below the 
shelf. At the seventh section from the top con- 
nections are made with a tank containing milk of 
lime. The ammonia water, after passing through 



74 OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 

a heat exchanger, enters the column at the top 
and remains on the uppermost shelf to a depth of 
three inches, when it overflows into the two-inch 
nipple, which drops it onto the second shelf on 
which it also remains to a depth of three inches, 
when it passes to the third shelf by overflowing 
into the two-inch nipple which transports it to the 
fourth shelf and so forth over all seventeen 
shelves, until it passes to the bottom of the 
column, where it issues as waste, after having 
been deprived of its ammonia. At the seventh 
shelf from the top a connection is made with the 
milk of lime storage tank, from which such an 
amount of milk of lime flows into the seventh sec- 
tion from the top as has been previously deter- 
mined by an analysis as necessary. Steam enters 
the column at the bottom and ascends through 
the tapering nozzles, being diverted by the top 
of the bell towards the bottom, where it enters the 
ammonia water, through the zig-zag shaped open- 
ings at the bottom of the bell, heating the water 
and driving off the ammonia gas. From the 
lower section the steam ascends to the next upper 
section through the tapering nozzle, operating in 
the same manner as described from shelf to shelf, 
until the remainder finally issues, together with 
the volatilized ammonia, from the top of the col- 
umn into a standard steam separator, where it is 
separated from the ammonia gas, which, by means 
of a pipe line, is conducted directly to the precipi- 
tating tank. 



RETORTING AND REDUCTION 75 

The free ammonia is volatilized only in the 
upper six sections, while from the combined 
ammonia (ammonium chloride, ammonium car- 
bonate) which is practically always present in the 
ammonia water, the ammonia must be set free by 
combining its impurities with lime. Ammonium 
chloride for instance, treated with milk of lime, 
furnishes calcium chloride, water and ammonia, 
according to the equation : 2 (N H 4 ) CI + Ca = 
Ca Cl 2 + H 2 + 2 N H 3 . 

In a similar manner ammonium carbonate fur- 
nishes, in combination with lime, calcium carbon- 
ate, water, and ammonia, according to the equa- 
tion: (NH 4 ) 2 C0 3 + CaO==CaC0 3 + H 2 + 
2NH 3 . 

The precipitating tank contains dilute sulphuric 
acid into which the ammonia gas is conducted, 
combining with the sulphuric acid to form sul- 
phate of ammonia, according to the equation: 
H 2 S 4 + 2 (N H 4 H 0) - (N HJ 2 S 0, + 
2H 2 0. 

The precipitating tank is built of wood and 
lined with lead. It has one sloping side, along 
which the crystals of sulphate of ammonium are 
removed to a draining floor or they are freed 
from moisture by a centrifugal machine. The 
sulphate of ammonium product is then dried and 
ready for the market. The reaction between the 
ammonia vapors and the sulphuric acid generates 
a large amount of heat, which generates steam, 
carrying some ammonia and fine particles of sul- 



76 OIL SHALE INDUSTEY 

phate of ammonium along. For this reason, and 
also for the protection of the workmen, the reac- 
tion takes place under a bell, the top of which 
ends in a pipe which is connected with a trap, sep- 
arating the particles of sulphate of ammonium 
from the steam, which then enters the heat ex- 
changer to preheat the original ammonia water 
before it enters the column apparatus. The 
primary economic products of the distillation 
plant are therefore : crude oil, gas, and sulphate 
of ammonium. 

An adequate supply of sulphuric acid for the 
absorption of the ammonia must be furnished. A 
production of 30 pounds of ammonium sulphate 
to the ton of shale will require approximately 
25 pounds of sulphuric acid or 12,500 tons of 92 
per cent sulphuric acid for each million tons of oil 
shale treated. 

Gas results from the uncondensed portions of 
the vapors. Its composition varies with the 
nature of the material retorted, the 
design of the retort, the temperature 
of distillation, and the efficiency and nature of 
condensers. An idea of its nature may be had 
from the following analysis, as given in the 
"Journ. Soc. Ch. Ind.," 1897, p. 983: 

Carbon dioxide 22.08 per cent 

Oxygen 1.18 " " 

Heavy hydrocarbons ... 1.38 " " 
Carbon monoxide 9.77 * ' 



RETORTING AND REDUCTION 77 



Methane , 3.70 per cent 

Hydrogen 55.56 

Nitrogen 6.33 






100.00 per cent 

The high proportion of hydrogen must be at- 
tributed to the action of steam upon the carbon of 
the spent shale. A large proportion of nitrogen 
indicates leaks of air admitted into the system. 
To obtain a maximum of heating value, the air 
admitted should be kept as little as possible. The 
greater the amount of nitrogen the lower will be 
the heating value. As the gas produced is used 
for the partial heating of the retorts, it is neces- 
sary to keep its heating value at the maximum 
point. 

One ton of shale will produce on the average 
2,500 cubic feet of gas of a calorific value of 
507 B. t. u. Five hundred and seven h 
by 2,500 gives 1,267,500 B, t. u. as the Value o?Gas 
calorific value of the gas produced Produced 
from one ton of shale. Colorado coals give an 
average of about 10,800 B. t. u.; 2,000 by 10,800 
gives 21,600,000 B. t. u. to the ton of coal, or 
approximately 17 times that of the B. t. u. in a 
ton of shale. In practice coal is only about 60 per 
cent efficient, but gas is 80 per cent efficient ; hence 
the heat value of the coal is reduced to L3 times 
the heat value of the gas from a ton of shale. In 
other words, for each 13 tons of shale mined Bllf- 



78 OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 

ficient gas would be produced to do the work of 
a ton of coal. Thus, in a 400-ton plant enough 
gas would be produced daily to be equivalent to 
more than 30 tons of coal. 

Crude shale oil produces a superior quality of 
gasoline. On account of the great present demand 
and the potential demand in the near 
future for gasoline this fact plays an 
important role in the success of the industry. 
Shale oil gasoline has a lower boiling point and 
weighs four-tenths of a pound more to the gallon 
than petroleum gasoline. Also, a gallon of petro- 
leum gasoline gives 126,000 heating units com- 
pared with 134,000 from shale oil gasoline. Thus 
shale oil gasoline has an increased power per 
gallon and, on account of its lower boiling point, 
will give a more powerful explosion. 

A complete oil shale plant is necessarily quite 
extensive and includes the following : » 

I. Mining 
Mining camp; bunk houses, cook 
Shaie^Qii 6 ' house, blacksmith shop, and machine 
Reduction shop; fans and ventilating equip- 
ment ; ore cars ; machine drills ; tram- 
way; general mining tools and mining equipment; 
spiked rolls or other breaking machinery ; storage 
bins. 

II. Retokting 

Site so placed as to allow for additional units; 
retorts connected to the condensing system to con- 



RETORTING AND REDUCTION 79 

dense the vapors and oils; absorption plant to 
recover gasoline from the gases ; scrubbers to re- 
move the by-products from the gas. 

III. Refining 

(a) Stills for straight run refining; stills for 
re-running and finishing; stills for cracking gas 
oil into synthetic gasoline or motor spirit. 

(b) Storage tanks for crude; run down tanks 
for various fractions and products; storage for 
refined products. 

(c) Pipe lines from retorts to refinery and from 
refinery to railroad. 

(d) Agitators and agitator house for acid and 
soda treatment of oils, and washers to remove 
them from the oil. 

(e) Clay burning house, for purifying and 
renewing the "Kieselguhr" or diatomaceous 
earth used in the stills and filters. 

(f) Pumping plant for pipe lines, and water 
supply for retorts and refinery, using a large 
amount of water for condensing and cooling. 

(g) Wax plant, coolers, refrigerators, hydraulic 
and filter presses to separate the paraffin wax 
from the heavy distillate; sweating houses for 
paraffin wax refining. 

(h) Loading racks at railroads, barreling, pack- 
ing and shipping house, carrjenters fcool, ami re- 
pair shop. 

(i) Electric light plant for mines, retorts, ami 



80 OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 

refinery ; also power plant for mining and pump- 
ing. 

IV. Ammonium Sulphate Plant 

In Scotland, "A three-story high ammonium 
sulphate house, with column-stills, acid saturators 
for the ammonia, vacuum evaporator, centrifugal 
driers, storing bins and grinding mills, sulphuric 
acid making plant ; acid recovery plant. ' ' 



CHAPTER VI 
EXPERIMENTAL WORK 

Although much experimental work needs to be 
done, and will be done, on oil shale before com- 
plete scientific knowledge — chemical Need f Ex _ 
and physical — will be obtained, and perimental 
such exact scientific work should be 
encouraged, yet the practical need of the industry 
at the present moment is the erection and opera- 
tion of retort units of commercial size. It is clear 
from the scientific principles already known that 
the retorting of oil shale will be done commer- 
cially in a large number of retorts each of which 
has a comparatively small daily tonnage capacity. 
The erection of one of these retorts of commercial 
size successfully operated will point the way to a 
daily capacity of a 1,000 tons a day by the mere 
duplication of the single retort. Hence, with the 
advent of such a retort, operated on a commercial 
scale, treating shale as it is mined, broken, and 
delivered to the retort, designed so as to permit 
automatic mechanical handling of the ore, tested 
and approved by impartial and competent en- 
gineers, there will be a red letter day in the 
history of the industry in the United States. 

81 



82 OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 

Experimental work has been done by the United 
States Geological Survey, the United States 
Bureau of Mines, the University of Utah, the 
Colorado School of Mines, and by many capable 
private companies, engineers, and chemists. Un- 
fortunately, however, some would-be chemists, 
untrained and inexperienced, lured by the tales of 
immense quantities of oil shale waiting "only the 
touch of the chemist's wand" to transform it into 
oil, have attracted capital from persons less 
informed than themselves and have dissipated it 
in experiments that violate the laws of science in 
general and chemistry in particular. Such a con- 
dition is regrettable, but is inevitable in the early 
stages of a new industry. 

J. B. Jones, Petroleum Engineer, of Kansas 
City, has made an extensive study of oil shale 

^ . both in the field at Grand Valley, Col- 

Expenmen- .. n . ._ , , . _i. 7 . 

tai Work orado, and m the laboratory. To test 

Jones B * ^ s district he took many samples and 

Petroleum checked them by taking seven samples 

as cross cuts on the principal vein of 

the valley, of about 1,000 pounds in each sample, 

from which four hundred pounds average samples 

were run through the retorts. These samples 

were taken from half a mile to three miles apart 

and safely represent an average of the brown, 

massive shale of Parachute creek. The average 

of these seven samples showed a recovery of 67 

gallons of oil to the ton. The lowest sample gave 

52 gallons and the highest 93 gallons. As a result 



(J 



EXPERIMENTAL WORK 83 

it is fair to assume that this district will average 
56 gallons to the ton for the massive or curly 
brown shales, about 30 gallons for the lean or light 
gray shales, and 45 gallons for the paper shales. 
For estimating purposes a general average of 42 
gallons is used. The refining record on the Grand 
Valley oils was good and the products all of high 
quality. The paraffin wax had a melting point of 
135 degrees in comparison with the average wax 
from petroleum which has a melting point of from 
114 to 124 degrees. The higher the melting point, 
the more sale value it has. The Grand Valley 
lubricating oils showed an especially fine quality 
and were 50 per cent of the crude, of 395 flash — 
475 fire — with a viscosity of 410 at 100 degrees. 
From the Nevada crude shale oil he produced 46 
per cent of lubricating oil and from the Colorado 
crude shale oil 50 per cent of the crude came 
through as a high grade motor oil. From the 
different shales he produced from the crude oil 
from 30 per cent up to 60 per cent of motor oil, 
or if he wished the highest possible amount of 
gasoline, he put the oil through any one of several 
successful cracking processes and produced up to 
60 per cent of gasoline. The shale oil resulting 
from these tests was refined by the Wells Refining 
Process. 

A shale oil lubricating distillate, just as it came 
from the stills, without any treatment or finishing 
and representing 57 per cent of the crude shale 
oil and showing a low viscosity — 133 viscosity at 



w 



84 OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 

70 degrees— was submitted to the Ohio State Uni- 
versity laboratories. It was tested in competition 
with a Standard Oil Company's gas engine cylin- 
der oil, made from petroleum oil having a vis- 
cosity of 374 at 70 degrees. The results were as 
follows : 

Standard Oil Co. 's make of gas engine cylinder 
oil used in test showed : 

Gravity, Baume 24.4 

Flash 405. 

Fire 485. 

Viscosity at 70 374. 

Color No. 6 

Shale oil used in test showed : 

Gravity, Baume 30.3 

Flash 390. 

Fire 455. 

Viscosity at 70 133. 

Color ..,..., No. 4 

This oil was used on a 12-hour continuous run 
and the test record shows the following salient 
features : 

a. The engine ran for one hour using the 
petroleum oil, and was run for 12 hours using the 
shale oil, in each case the revolutions per minute 
were 275 and the explosions per minute were 137.5. 

b. The engine ran cooler using shale oil. 

It required 50 pounds less jacket water per hour 
to cool the cylinder using shale oil. 

400 pounds of jacket water, using shale oil, kept 
the temperature of jacket water from vaporizing 






EXPERIMENTAL WORK 85 

at 185, while it took 450 pounds an hour to keep 
it at 211 using petroleum (Standard Oil). 

c. Engine carried a heavier load using shale oil. 
Net brake load using shale oil was 40 lb. 

Net brake load using petroleum oil was 38.2 lb. 

d. Developed more horse power. 
Brake horse power using shale oil, 6.28. 
Brake horse power using petroleum oil, 6. 

e. Mean effective pressure on piston. 

Was less using shale oil, showing less friction 
and better lubrication. 

Mean effective pressure shale oil, 37.80. 
Mean effective pressure petroleum oil, 49. 

f. Mechanical efficiency was better. 
Mechanical efficiency shale oil, 54.5. 
Mechanical efficiency petroleum oil, 52.4. 

g. Engine friction was less. 
Engine friction using shale oil, 4.87. 
Engine friction using petroleum oil, 5.45. 

h. Fuel used (to perform better service) was 
reduced 30 per cent when using shale oil. 

Fuel used was kerosene; per indicated horse 
power, per hour, consumed 0.5 pound using the 
shale oil, while it consumed 0.647 pound using 
petroleum. Per brake horse power, per hour, con- 
sumed but 0.9 pound using shale oil and required 
1.25 pounds of fuel oil using petroleum. The re- 
sults of these tests show the superior lubricating 
qualities of shale oils, when properly produced 
and finished. It has been found from many test* 
that improper temperatures in the retorts ami 



J 



86 



OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 



high temperatures in the refining will ruin the 
natural excellence of the shale oils, so proper 
methods and processes in reduction and refining 
are an absolutely prime requisite for the produc- 
tion of superior products. 

G. W. "Wallace, East St. Louis, 111., who has 
done much experimental work on oil shale, made 
Tests on Oil a careful test of eight samples from 

Dragon, Utah, with the 

results : 



Shale from 

Dragon 

Utah 



following 



Sample 
No. 


Weight 

of 
Charge 

in 
Pounds 


Gallons 

of oil to 

the ton of 

shale 


Pounds of 
Ammoni- 
um Sul- 
phate to 
the ton of 
shale 


Average 
Tempera- 
ture of 

Carboni- 
zation 


Time Required 
to carbonize 


Per Cent of 
Volatile 
matter in 
the shale 


1.. 

2.. 
3.. 

4.. 
5.. 
6.. 

7.. 
8.. 


. 80 
80 
. 86 
. 74 
. 84 
95 
. 86 
. 98 


66.50 
38.96 
47.25 
52.00 
39.60 
43.10 
48.90 
54.20 


9.14 
21.02 
11.20 
19.74 

8.66 
19.14 
19.48 
25.40 


492°F. 

531 

568 

469 

595 

605 

651 

580 


1 hr. 30 min. 
1 hr. 24 min. 
1 hr. 24 min. 
1 hr. 37 min. 
1 hr. 38 min. 
1 hr. 41 min. 
1 hr. 28 min. 
1 hr. 20 min. 


31.0 

30.0 
30.2 
36.4 
28.6 
33.7 
28.0 
35.7 


Aver- 
age.. 


. 87 


48.10 


17.20 


573°F. 


1 hr. 33 min. 


31.9 



The table on page 87 gives the important com- 
ponents of the shale oil recovered from these same 
eight samples of shale. 

The distillate column represents all oil dis- 
tilling between the gasoline fraction and the resi- 
due. The residue in all cases was of about the 
consistency of soft pitch, but, aside from being 



«y 



EXPERIMENTAL WORK 



87 



| Sample 
No. 


Percentage 

of 

Gasoline 


Percentage 

of 
Distillate 


Pounds of 

paraffin 
to the ton 


Percentage 

of 
Solid residue 


Percentage of 

Water 

in the Oil 


1... 

2... 
3... 
4... 
5... 
6... 
7... 
8... 


16 
16 
30 
21 

18 
20 
18 
17 


73 

73 

78 
67 
63 
60 
68 
69 


31 
19 
23 
38 
19 
21 
23 
26 


8.0 
7.0 
6.0 

10.0 
9.0 

10.0 
7.0 

10.0 


3.0 
4.0 
6.0 
1.1 
1.0 
Trace 
None 
3.5 


Averag 


e 18.25 


71.33 


23.0 


8.48 


1.94 



black, had no pitch properties, but was more of a 
wax. 

In Bulletin 581-A of the U. S. G. S., E. G. Wood- 
ruff and David T. Day have reported in detail on 
numerous exposures of the Green 
Eiver formation in Colorado. The 
following extracts show the results of 
tests and the nature of the oil-shale 
seams : 



Test by the 
United 
States Geo- 
logical Sur- 
vey 



Results of Field Distillation 



No. 

of 

Test 


Locality 


Thickness 
of Shale 
Samples, 

Ft. In. 


Amt. of 
Shale 
l s. d. 

Pounds 


Am*, of 

Oil 

Obtained, 

Gallons 


Amt. of 
Oil to the 
ihorl ton 

oi shale. 
Gallons 


1 


Conn Cnvk 


1 4 



5 10 
5 10 


100 
150 

L56 

150 
150 


3.1 
2.4 

2 

i s 
.78 


62 2 


2 
3 


Kimball Crock 

Kimball Creek (second 
test) 


31.6 
26 2 


4 
5 


Parachute Cnvk 

■I A Ranch 


20 
10 \ 









88 OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 

Exposure in Parachute Creeb; 
Total exposure 110 ft. 7 in. 



Sec. 29, T. 5 S., R. 95 W. 








Thickness of Seams 




Estimate 


31 feet 


20 


gal. 


a ton 


4 ft. 10 in. 


20 


gal. 


a ton 


5 ft. 10 in. 


20 


gal. 


by field test 


Section Along Mount Logan Trail 


Sec. 26, T. 7 S., R. 97 W. 








Total exposure, 1,086 ft. 


10 


in. 




Thickness of Seams 






Estimate 


81 ft. 






20 gal. 


1 ft. 1 in. 






20 gal. 


8 in. 






30 gal. 


2 ft. 6 in. 






25 gal. 


9 in. 






30 gal. 


5 ft. 6 in. 






20 gal. 



Exposure at 4- A Ranch 
Sec. 21, T. 6 S., R. 90 W. 



Total exposure, 19 ft. 9 in. 




Thickness of Seams 


Estimate 


5 ft. 3 in. 


20 gal. 


1 ft. 2 in. 


25 gal. 


4 in. 


25 gal. 



Exposure on the North Side of Kimball Creek 

Sec. 5, T. 7 N., R. 100 W. 
Total exposure, 86 ft. 

Two samples, each from a seam six feet thick, 



EXPERIMENTAL WORK 89 

gave 31.6 and 26.2 gallons of oil to the ton, respec- 
tively. 

Dean E. Winchester, in Bulletin 641-F, of the 
U. S. G. S, gives a number of stratigraphical sec- 
tions from which the following are taken to illus- 
trate the thickness of the shales. 

T. 1 N, R. 103 W. Total thickness, 929 ft. V/ 2 
in.: 

In this exposure are 14 seams of 7 in., 1 ft., 1 
ft., 4 ft., 1 ft., 1 ft,, 2 in., 1% in., 2 in., 5 ft., 4 in., 

2 ft., 10 in., and 3 ft. thickness, respectively, all of 
which are estimated to carry 15 gallons or more of 
oil to the ton. 

T. 1 N., K. 104 W. Total exposure, 765 ft. 3 in. : 
In this exposure are 25 seams of 6 in., 1 ft., 6 in., 
8 ft., 5 ft., 1 ft., 6 in., 5 ft., 1 ft., 2 ft., 1 ft., 2 ft., 1 
ft., 1 ft., 6 in., 1 ft., 1 in., 1 ft., 2 in., 3 ft., 2 ft,, 2 
in., 1 ft., 1 in., 4 ft., and 1 ft., in thickness, respec- 
tively, all of which are estimated to carry 15 gal- 
lons or more of oil to the ton. 

T. 1 N, R. 100 W. Total exposure, 399 ft. 4 in. : 
In this exposure are 3 seams of 6 in., 1 ft., and 

3 ft. thickness, respectively, which are estimated 
to carry 15 gallons or more of oil to the ton. 

T. 1 N., Rs. 99 and 100 W. Total exposure, 874 
ft. 9 in. : 

In this exposure are 31 seams of 8 in., 1 ft,, 7 ft., 
1 in., 2 ft., 2 ft., 4 ft., 1 in., 6 in., 1 ft., 5 ft., 1 ft, 3 
in., (J in., 2 in., 1 ft., 2 in., 8 in., S in., (5 in., 1 ft., 1 
ft, 6 in, 1 ft., 1 ft., 3 in., 2 H., (5 in., 3 ft., 5 ft., 4 
in., 3 ft, 3 ft., and 1 ft., in thickness, respectively, 



90 OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 

all of which are estimated to carry 15 gallons or 
more of oil to the ton. 

T. 2 K, E. 98 W. Total exposure, 1,677 ft. 1% 
in.: 

In this exposure are 9 seams of 5 ft., 5 ft., 4 ft., 
11 in., 3 ft,, 7 in., 5 ft., 6 in., 1 ft., and 1 ft, in thick- 
ness, respectively, which are estimated to carry 15 
gallons or more of oil to the ton. 

T. 2 N., R. 97 W. Total exposure, 1,605 ft. 11% 
in.: 

In this exposure are 12 seams of 3 ft., 3 ft., 3 ft., 
5 ft., 2 ft., 2 ft,, 2 ft., 5 ft,, 2 ft., 10 ft,, 3 ft., 8 in., 
and 3 ft. in thickness, respectively, that are esti- 
mated to carry 15 gallons or more of oil to the ton. 

T. 1 N., 97 W. Total exposure, 2,496 ft, 6 % in. : 

In this exposure are 27 seams, 1 ft., 3 in., 3 ft., 
1 in., 5 ft. 11 in., 3 ft., 2 ft., 3 ft. 4 in., 6 in., 5 ft. 
8% in., 2 ft., 6 in., 2 ft., 3 ft., 5 ft., 5 ft,, 5 ft., 3 ft., 
1 ft., 1 ft., 1 ft., 3 in., 2 ft. 4 in., 3 ft., 4 in., 5 ft., 8 
in., and 4 ft. 4 in. in thickness, respectively, all of 
which are estimated to carry 15 gallons or more of 
oil to the ton. 

In Bulletin 641-F of the U. S. G. S., Dean E. 

Winchester summarizes all the field tests in oil 

Summary of shales made by the survey as follows : 
Tests 1913 

No. of Amount of Oil 
Samples to the Ton 
1 ... ., ... 10.4 gal. 

8 ,..,.., ... 16-40 gal. 

(Average, 27.2 gal.) 



EXPERIMENTAL WORK 91 

No. of Amount of Oil 

Samples to the Ton 

1 45.2 gal. 

1 61.2 gal. 

1914 

17 . . . . i. .Less than 10 gal. 

22 10-20 gal. 

11 20-30 gal. 

3 30-40 gal. 

2 40.6 gal. 

1 ;.. 65.3 gal. 

1 86.8 gal. 

1915 

6 ,. .. .Less than 10 gal. 

7 10-20 gal. 

7 20-30 gal. 

9 30-40 gal. 

5 More than 40 gal. 

(1-90 gal.) 

In a few samples only was the yield of ammo- 
nium sulphate determined. This was found to 
range from 18.3 pounds by dry distillation, or 34 
pounds by steam distillation, to 0.4 pound to the 
ton of shale. The yield of inflammable gas varied 
from 500 to 4,549 cubic feet to (lie ton. Dean E. 
Winchester, in V. S. G. S. Bulletin 691-B, gives 
detailed results of S3 distillation tests made on the 
oil shale of the Uintah basin in (Jtah. Analysis 
of his resnlts rives the following: 



92 



OIL SHALE INDUSTEY 



Minimum 



Maximum 



Average 



Thickness of the bed sampled . 

Yield of oil to the ton 

Yield of ammonium sulphate 
to the ton 



6 in. 
lgal. 

0.291b. 



12 ft. 6 in, 
90 gal. 

15.921b. 



4 ft. 5 in. 
23.70 gal. 

4.91b. 



From these results a reasonable inference to be 
drawn is that the shale, over a large area, is of 
minable thickness and carries oil values of eco- 
nomic value, but that the amount of ammonium 
sulphate recoverable is too small to be worthy of 
commercial consideration. 

In Bulletin 641, p. 156, he also gives the prod- 
ucts of the fractionation of shale oil as follows : 
Gasoline (distillate to 150°C) 7 to 12perct. 
Kerosene (150° to 300°C).... 28.5 to 49 " " 

Asphalt 0.47 to 4.10 " " 

Paraffin , 1.63 to 9.21 " " 

Sulphur 0.41 to 1.42 " " 

Nitrogen 0.887 to 2.198 " " 

He remarks that ' ' the large percentage of nitro- 
gen may be greatly lessened in commercial prac- 
tice, in which steam will probably be injected into 
the retorts during the distillation. ' ' 

In Bulletin 641-F. of the U. S. GL S., Dean E. 
Winchester gives the following results of distilla- 
tion with and without steam : 

"During May, 1916, six samples of oil shale 
were tested at the Bureau of Mines, with an appa- 
ratus similar to that used in the field, but so ar- 



EXPERIMENTAL WORK 



93 



ranged that superheated steam was injected into 
the retort during the entire process of distillation. 
The samples were selected to represent a wide geo- 
graphical distribution, as well as differences in 
richness and physical character, and 
the results of the tests are extremely o^DryTnd 
interesting. Each of the samples had s .| ea ™ Dis " 
been tested previously in the field 
apparatus without steam, and the results, there- 
fore, furnished factors that may be used to con- 
vert the results of field tests into what are very 
probably close approximations to results to be 
expected from commercial practice. 



Comparison of Steam and Dry Distillation 





Oil 


Ammonium Sulphate 


Sam- 
ple 
No. 


With Steam 


Without Steam 


Theoretical 
yield, equiv- 
alent of 
nitrogen in 
shale 
(pounds 
per ton) 


Yield as deter- 
mined 


Yield 
(gallons 
per ton) 


Specific gravity 


Yield 
(gallons 
per ton 


Specific gravity 


With 

steam 

(lb. per 

ton) 


Without 

steam 

(lb. per 

ton) 


4.. 
27.. 
32.. 
51.. 
86. . 
132.. 


23.0 
10.0 
44.0 

39.0 
55.0 
50.0 


0.9346 (19.7°B.) 
.9135 (23.2°B.) 
.9630 (15.3°B.) 
9234 (2l.6°B.) 
.9286(2().7°B.) 
.9109(23.7°B.) 


16.8 
8.4 
40.6 
28.0 
55.0 
50.0 


0.8937 (26.6°B.) 
.8946(26.5°B.) 
.8838 (28.4°B.) 
.9126 (23.4°B.) 
.9052 (24.6°B.) 
.8449 tf5.7°B.) 


36.6 
43.2 
50.8 
43.2 
75.4 
80.1 


13.4 
29.9 
34.0 
15.8 
23 l 

8 4 


3 5 
18.3 

8.5 
7.3 
9.6 

4 5 



The average amount of ammonium sulphate 
produced from the shale by steam distillation was 
about two and one-hall' times the amount obtained 
from the same samples by dry distillation, thus 
providing a factor for the conversion of the figure 



94 OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 

for ammonium sulphate by dry distillation to 
ammonium sulphate which may be obtained with 
steam distillation — the method practiced in the 
oil shale industry in Scotland and France. 

The yield of oil, ammonia, permanent gases, and 

spent shale from an oil shale may be determined 

in from three to five hours by the following 

method. A weighed sample of the 

Methods for , -, . -,. ,.-.-, -. -, £ 

the Proxi- shale is distilled dry irom an iron 

mate Analy- re tort. The oil and water produced 

sis of Oil ill 

Shale and are condensed and measured by vol- 
Use'din 1 the ume - ^ ne permanent gases evolved 
Chemical m are bubbled through a solution of sul- 

Laboratones , . . .. . . , 

of the Colo- phuric acid to remove ammonia and 
of d Mines° 01 ^en co ^ ec ^ e( ^ over water and meas- 
ured. The water distilling from the 
shale contains part of the ammonia and is sep- 
arated from the oil and added to the acid solution. 
The oil, condenser, cylinder, and glass connecting 
tubes are rinsed until free from ammonium com- 
pounds and the rinsings also added to the solution 
of sulphuric acid. This solution is then neutralized 
with sodium hydroxide and the ammonium sul- 
phate in the neutral solution changed to sulphuric 
acid and hexamethylenetetramine by warming with 
formaldehyde. The acid formed is equivalent to 
the amount of ammonia and is titrated with a 
standard base solution. The spent shale remain- 
ing in the retort is removed and weighed. 

Solutions used. Sulphuric acid, approximately 
one-normal ; standard fifth-normal sodium hydrox- 




^K 




X £ 

°.8 

02 
02 02* 




rt=*== 



EXPERIMENTAL WORK 95 

ide ; neutral forty per cent formaldehyde ; one per 
cent phenolphthalein and solutions of litmus or 
cochineal. 

Apparatus used. Three Scimatco burners, size 
4; one Bunsen burner; one 0.50 pint cast iron re- 
tort, with cover, clamp and iron delivery tube 14 
inches long, bent in a semicircle ; one burner-guard 
made of magnesia steam-pipe insulation, 8 inches 
long, 4.50 inches inside diameter and one inch 
thick; one 10-inch condenser with straight inner 
tube; one 100-cc. graduated cylinder; one 100-cc. 
distilling flask; one Meyer absorption tube; one 
carboy ; one 1000-cc. distilling flask ; one 25 to 50 
liter bottle; one 1000-cc. graduated cylinder; one 
800-cc. conical flask; one 250-cc. separatory fun- 
nel; one burette ; spatula; pliers; rubber stoppers ; 
rings, clamps and ringstands for supporting the 
apparatus ; rubber and glass tubing for connecting' 
apparatus, water and gas; asbestos board for 
covering the retort. 

Arrangement of apparatus. The apparatus is 
connected and set up as shown in the accompany- 
ing plate. The junction surfaces between the 
retort and cover must be clean, smooth and fit 
closely. The inner tube of the condenser has about 
the same diameter as the iron delivery tube from 
the retort. The ends of these tubes are in contact 
and are joined with new heavy walled rubber tub- 
ing. The other end of the condenser is connected 
in a similar manner with a glass adapt ing-tubo 
which extends through the stopper and about three 



96 OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 

inches into the 100-cc cylinder. The jacket of the 
condenser is connected with a 100-cc. distilling 
flask in such a manner that the water flowing to 
the condenser may be heated when necessary to 
remove heavy oils from the condenser. The Meyer 
tube is connected in between the cylinder and the 
carboy. The tube leading into the carboy extends 
just through the stopper and the tube leading out 
extends from the bottom of the carboy to the 
bottom of the 1000-cc. distilling flask. This last 
tube is filled with water and about 18 inches of its 
length consists of rubber tubing. The flow of 
water from the distilling flask is aided by bending 
downward the last few inches of the side tube. 
The carboy and the distilling flask are filled with 
water and cooled to room temperature before the 
distillation is started. The distilling flask at first 
is elevated so that the level of the water in it and 
the carboy is the same. 

Distillation of the shale. Two hundred and 
forty-one grams (eight and one-half ounces) of 
the shale are placed in the retort. If the shale is 
high grade 219.1 grams are used and the yield in 
each case increased by one-tenth so as to rate it all 
on the basis of 241 grams and facilitate calcula- 
tion. A thick paste is made by mixing "Smooth 
On" cement (Engineer's "Smooth On," No. 1) 
with a little water. Using a spatula this paste is 
quickly and evenly spread on the junction surfaces 
of the lid and retort. The lid is placed on at once 
and the clamp firmly screwed down with the pliers. 



EXPERIMENTAL WORK 97 

Cement is then pressed into the groove between 
the retort and lid. The retort is now placed in 
position for the distillation and covered by the 
magnesia burner-guard. About 20 cc. of approxi- 
mately one-normal sulphuric acid are placed in 
the Meyer tube and the connections adjusted so as 
to be gas tight. The 1000-cc. distilling flask is 
lowered about one foot. This siphons some water 
from the carboy and diminishes the pressure in 
the apparatus. If air continues to bubble through 
the Meyer tube it indicates a leak somewhere. 
When the leak is in the retort, the cement is re- 
moved and fresh cement put on. There are few 
leaks of this kind when the cement is allowed to 
set 15 to 30 minutes before testing. When the 
apparatus is ready for the distillation a gentle 
flow of water is started through the 100-cc. dis- 
tilling flask and the outer tube of the condenser. 
The 1000-cc. distilling flask is raised until the level 
of the water in it is about 8 inches lower than that 
in the carboy. This difference of level lessens the 
tendency to leak and is maintained throughout the 
distillation. Small pieces of asbestos board are 
placed over the top of the burner-guard so as to 
cover about two-thirds of the retort on the side 
farthest from the condenser. In this way the iron 
delivery tube is kept warm and condensation at 
this point is minimized, The retort is heated 
slowly in order to drive off the oil at as low a 
temperature as possible. A Soimatoo burner is 
adjusted to produce a flame four inches high and 



98 OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 

the burner placed for thirty minutes with the top 
four inches from the bottom of the retort. The 
burner is then raised one inch and the heating 
continued for half an hour, when the burner is 
raised another inch and the heating continued for 
another half hour. The burner is now raised until 
the top is one-half inch from the retort. After 
thirty minutes a second Scimatco burner is added 
and in another half hour a third burner is intro- 
duced. The heating is continued with the three 
burners one-half inch from the retort until gas is 
no longer evolved from the shale. About ten 
minutes before this time the flow of water through 
the condenser is shut off, a flame placed under the 
100-cc, distilling flask and the water heated almost 
to boiling. The water is then turned on slightly 
and the condenser kept hot until all the oil has 
melted and drained from the condenser. The 
number of cubic centimeters of oil and water in 
the cylinder is carefully noted. Each cubic centi- 
meter represents one gallon of oil or water per 
ton of shale when 241 grams are used for the 
distillation. The volume of water flowing from 
the carboy is equal to the volume of permanent 
gases. This volume in cubic centimeters times 
0.1337 is equal to the yield of permanent gases in 
cubic feet per ton of shale when 241 grams of 
shale are taken for the distillation. After the 
retort has cooled somewhat the spent shale is 
removed and weighed. The number of grams of 
spent shale obtained from 241 grams of shale mul- 



EXPERIMENTAL WORK 99 

tiplied by 8.3 equals the number of pounds of 
spent shale per ton of shale. 

Determination of ammonia. The oil and water 
in the cylinder are transferred to the separatory 
funnel. The water is separated and run into an 
800-cc, conical flask. The acid solution is poured 
from the Meyer tube into the conical flask. Then 
the Meyer tube is rinsed with 50 cc. of hot water. 
This water is poured through the inner tube of the 
condenser and the adapting-tube into the cylinder. 
It is transferred from the cylinder to the oil in the 
separatory funnel. The oil and hot water are 
shaken up together. The water is then run into 
the 800-cc. conical flask, and the rinsing in this 
manner with 50-cc. portions of hot water repeated 
three more times, adding all the rinse water to the 
conical flask. The small tube connecting the cylin- 
der and Meyer tube is also rinsed into the conical 
flask three times with hot water. The acid solution 
in the conical flask now contains the ammonia as 
ammonium sulphate. This solution is boiled to 
remove carbon dioxide and then sufficient litmus 
or cochineal solution is added to produce a distinct 
color. Sodium hydroxide is added from a buret to 
until the solution is just neutral. If in doubt about 
the end-point or if the end-point has been passed 
a few drops of sulphuric acid are added and the 
end-point again determined. It is best to take the 
end-point where the indicator begins to change, 
that is when the litmus turns to a red-violet color 
rather than the final change to a deep blue. Ten 



100 OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 

cc. of neutral 40 per cent formaldehyde are added 
to the solution and the solution boiled for about 
one minute. The following reaction takes place : 
6HCHO + 2(NH 4 ) 2 S0 4 =-- (CH 2 ) 6 N 4 + 2H 2 S0 4 
+ 6H 2 

The solution is cooled to about 60°C, phenol- 
phthalein added and the sulphuric acid formed 
titrated with the standard sodium hydroxide. Each 
cubic centimeter of fifth-normal sodium hydroxide 
is equivalent to 0.10954 pound of ammonium sul- 
phate per ton of shale when 241 grams are used 
for the distillation. 

Plant control tests. The analytical distillation 
of shale by the above method gives the maximum 
yield of ammonia and permanent gases by dry 
distillation. For control work in plants, where 
the object in retorting is to obtain a maximum 
yield of the best oil rather than the largest amount 
of ammonia or permanent gases, the method may 
be considerably shortened in time and the labora- 
tory distillation made more nearly like that of the 
plant by stopping the distillation as soon as the oil 
has all distilled off. The yield of ammonia and 
permanent gases are then much diminished but 
more nearly approach the amounts obtained in 
plant operations by dry retorting. For control 
work in plants retorting with steam the following 
modification is made in the laboratory distillation. 
The 100-cc, cylinder is replaced by a liter suction 
flask containing 100 cc. of approximately one- 
normal sulphuric acid. The adapting tube extends 



EXPEEIMENTAL WORK 101 

to the bottom of this flask. The retort is drilled 
and threaded near the bottom, and an iron tube 
similar to the delivery tube introduced. This tube 
is fitted with a stop-cock and connected with a 
suitable source of steam. After the shale in the 
retort has been heated to 212 °F, steam is intro- 
duced and continued at a rate corresponding to 
the quantities used in the plant operation. When 
the oil has all distilled out the distillation is dis- 
continued, the oil and acid solution from the flask 
are separated in a large separatory funnel, the oil 
is rinsed in the usual way and the rinsings together 
with the acid solution and the acid from the Meyer 
tube placed in a graduated flask. The ammonia is 
then determined in an aliquot portion of this 
solution. 

The specific gravity of the shale oil is deter- 
mined with a small sized Tagliabue Baume 
hydrometer. The oil is placed in a 50-cc. cylinder 
and the hydrometer lowered carefully to avoid 
getting the oil on the hydrometer higher up than it 
will finally sink in the oil. The temperature of the 
oil is taken and correction is made when the oil is 
not at 60°F. 

Analytical distillation of shale oil. Determining 
the most desirable conditions for the analytical 
distillation of shale oil is a difficult problem. In 
distilling off the heavier half of a shale oil a large 
amount of what appears to be cracking occurs. 
Gasoline fractions form continuously without 
much elevation of the temperature unless the dis- 



102 OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 

tillation is forced by application of greater heat. 
Whether this is due more to cracking or to a 
depolymerization of certain naphthenes or other 
compounds has not been fully determined. A 
simple distillation of the oil does not well indicate 
what the oil consists of nor adequately show what 
may be produced from it. The amount of crude 
shale oil used, the rate of the distillation, and the 
form and size of the distilling flask are all factors 
which have considerable influence on the amount 
and properties of the oil obtained in the different 
distillates. Pending further investigations of the 
analytical distillation of shale oil the following 
method is used and recommended. One hundred 
cubic centimeters of the shale oil are distilled 
from a standard 100-cc. Engler flask. The flask is 
supported in an upright position on a ring of 
asbestos having a circular hole 1.25 inches in 
diameter. Heat is applied by a Bunsen burner to 
that portion of the flask in the hole. The ther- 
mometer used is graduated for total immersion 
and registers to 800 °F. The bulb is placed oppo- 
site but slightly lower than the junction of the side 
tube and the thermometer is supported by a cork 
stopper in the flask. The end of the side tube from 
the flask is bent downward and joined to the verti- 
cal condenser by a cork stopper. A ten-inch con- 
denser with a straight inner tube is used. The 
distillate is received in 10-cc. graduated cylinders. 
The oil is heated slowly at first until all the water 
has distilled out. The burner during most of the 



EXPERIMENTAL WORK 103 

distillation is manipulated in the hand, the ther- 
mometer is carefully watched, and the rate of 
distillation limited to 2 to 2.5 cc. per minute. This 
is about one drop per second. The number of 
cubic centimeters of water distilling off and the 
temperature when the first drop of oil reaches the 
graduate are noted and recorded. A record is 
kept of the temperature at the end of each 10-cc. 
fraction. The amount of oil distilling off below 
410°F is noted and recorded as crude gasoline. 
These fractions are united and placed in a 25-cc. 
cylinder. The fractions coming off between 410 °F 
and 572 °F are united, measured, and recorded as 
crude illuminating oil. Usually the fraction above 
572 °F is not distilled but measured by difference 
and recorded as heavy oil. This portion is poured 
while hot into the original 100-cc, cylinder. The 
gravity of the gasoline, illuminating oil, and heavy 
oil fractions is taken with a small hydrometer in a 
25-cc. cylinder or a test-tube. When the quantities 
of oil are very small a pycnometer is used. The 
three fractions are then united in the 100-cc. cylin- 
der, mixed well, and the gravity taken. The loss 
in gravity is calculated by subtracting this from 
the gravity of the crude oil taken before the disi il- 
lation. The separation into the three fractions 
does not interfere with recording the temperature 
for each 10-cc. portion coming from the condenser. 
When desired the distillation is continued until a 
dry coke is left in the flask. The Tractions above 



104 OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 

572 °F are united and measured as heavy oil and 
the coke determined by difference. When it is 
convenient or desirable the distillation may be 
made on a 300 or a 500 cc. sample, using a flask 
with a Hempel column similar to that recom- 
mended by the United States Bureau of Mines 
(Bulletin 125) for the analytical distillation of 
crude petroleum. Cuts of 30 or 50 cc. are taken. 

For the past three years much interest in the 

industry has been taken at the Colorado School of 

Mines. Courses of instruction in oil 

Tests Made -, , , -. , -. « • 

at the Colo- shale analysis and petroleum refining 

of d Mi SC s° o1 ^ave ^ een °^ ere( ^ *° the regular stu- 
dents. Series of popular lectures have 
been offered to the public. Hundreds of prelim- 
inary oil shale analyses have been made for the 
residents of Colorado, of which the following of 
Colorado shales are typical : 

F. A. Wadleigh, Denver, Colorado. 

No. 1 
Oil i. . .i ,. . . .... . .65.50 gal. a ton 

Distribution 

Oil distilled at 150°C, 8.00 gal. 
Oil distilled at 200 °C, 3.50 gal. 
Oil distilled at 250°C, 8.50 gal. 
Oil distilled at 300°C, 9.00 gal. 
Oil distilled above 300°C, 42.60 gal. 
Total, 65.50 gal. a ton. 



EXPERIMENTAL WORK 105 

No. 2 
Oil ,..., 77.60 gal. a ton 

DlSTKIBUTION 

Oil distilled at 150°C, 12.00 gal. 
Oil distilled at 200 °C, 7.00 gal. 
Oil distilled at 250°C, 6.00 gal. 
Oil distilled at 300 °C, 10.00 gal. 
Oil distilled above 300°C, 42.60 gal. 
Total, 77.60 gal. a ton. 

No. 3 
Oil , 30.00 gal. a ton 

Distribution 

Oil distilled at 150 °C, 5.6 gal. 

Oil distilled at 200 °C, 3.2 gal. 

Oil distilled at 250°C, 7.2 gal. 

Total oil, 30.00 gal. a ton. 

Joseph Bellis, Grand Valley, Colorado : 

No. 1 
Oil ..,..,.. 75.0 gal. a ton 

Distribution 
Distilled at 150°C, 14.40 gal. 
Distilled at 200°C, 2.40 gal. 
Distilled at 250°C, 12.00 gal. 
Distilled at 300°C, 16.80 gal. 
Distilled above 300°C, 29.40 gal. 
Total, 75.00 gal. a ton. 



106 OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 

Joseph Bellis, Grand Valley, Colorado : 

No. 2 
Oil 60.00 gal. a ton 

Distribution 
Distilled at 150°C, 14.00 gal. 
Distilled at 200 °C, 6.00 gal. 
Distilled at 250° C, 3.40 gal. 
Distilled at 300°C, 7.80 gal. 
Distilled above 300 °C, 28.80 gal. 
Total, 60.00 gal. a ton. 

The Colorado School of Mines offers the general 
facilities of its Department of Metallurgical Re- 
search to oil shale investigators, 
ve^fgations Experimenters may erect their retort 
at their own expense, and may make 
use of the general conveniences and equipment of 
the plant. On completion of their work and when 
they feel that their retort will operate satisfac- 
torily the Department will make an impartial test 
run and give an official report of the results ob- 
tained. Three companies have already signified 
their intention of accepting this offer and erecting 
their retorts. In this Department, A. J. Franks, 
a Fellow in Chemistry, is investigating the effect 
of physical decomposition products of the carbon- 
ization of oil shale. 

In the chemical laboratories of the Colorado 
School of Mines research work has been under- 
taken in order to secure a general knowledge of the 



EXPERIMENTAL WORK 107 

composition of oil shale and its products, and to 
show the variation in the composition of the oil 
shales of Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, 
and Nevada, in order that it may serve ^stigadons " 
as a basis for comparison in rating 
the value of any individual sample. Data from all 
available sources have been investigated, and al- 
though they show the composition of the oil shale 
in only about fifty localities in each State, yet they 
are of considerable value in estimating the compo- 
sition of the same strata in other localities where 
the shale has not yet been reached, because the oil 
in the shale is fixed and not migratory like 
petroleum. Differences in laboratory methods of 
distillation and in the form of apparatus used 
cause the analyses of oil shales to vary more than 
any other substance analyzed by the chemist. Until 
some standard method and type of apparatus is 
generally adopted by analysts, the results of their 
analyses must not be interpreted too rigidly. 
Allowance must also be made for the fact that 
commercial plant distillation must necessarily 
vary from that done with small retorts in the 
laboratory. 

The following figures are based on the results 
of one hundred thirty- two analyses published by 
the United States Geological Survey, fifty-two 
analyses made in the chemical laboratory of the 
Colorado School of Mines, and thirty-seven from 
other sources. Sixty-four of the analyses wore on 
Colorado shales; fifty-srx on Utah shales; forty- 



108 



OIL SHALE INDUSTEY 



[/ five on Wyoming shales, and fifty-six on Nevada 
shales. 



No. of 
Analyses 



221 
221 
179 

74 
36 
36 
36 
16 
8 



Constituent 



Shale oil ... . 
Shale oil .... 
Ammonium 
sulphate . . 

Gas 

Water 

Spent shale . . 

Sulphur 

Heating value 
Carbon 



Unit 



Gal. per ton 
Spec, gravity 
lb. per ton 

cu. ft. per ton 
Gal. per ton 
lb. per ton 
Per cent 
B.t.u. 
Per cent 



Minimum 



.30 
0.832 
0.40 

400.0 

1.0 
900.0 

0.25 
1000.0 

0.83 



^Average 



38.0 
0.890 
9.4 

4000.0 

4.8 
1200.0 

0.80 
4500.0 
22.5 



Maximum 



90.0 
0.950 

2o;o 

8300.0 

8.5 
1800.0 

5.20 
8000.0 
37.2 



Shale distillations with steam yield a few more 
gallons of oil a ton than dry distillations and the 
specific gravity of the oil is between .03 and .04 
greater. Steam distillations also increase the 
quantity of ammonium sulphate. The values given 
in the table above were obtained by dry distilla- 
tion. In the laboratory distillations the yield of 
gas is almost doubled if the retort is surrounded 
by magnesia insulation and the final temperature 
is thus increased a few hundred degrees. 

Shale oils vary considerably in color, specific 
gravity, and viscosity, and in their content of sul- 
phur, asphalt, and paraffin. As ordinarily pro- 
duced, they usually contain a larger percentage of 
unsaturated hydrocarbons than well petroleum. 
Experiments in cracking the heavier distillates 
from shale oil show that these oils crack very 



EXPERIMENTAL WORK 



109 



easily. One sample of oil obtained as a cut between 
585°F and 620°F with a gravity of 27°Baume, 
when distilled with steam gave 18 per cent gaso- 
line, 60°Baume; 35 per cent kerosene, 47° 
Baume; 25 per cent lubricating oil, 25°Baume; 
and left a heavy residue of 30 per cent. The fol- 
lowing summary is made from data obtained by 
analysis and distillation of twenty-four different 
samples of crude shale oil. Nine of these were 
analyzed by the United States Bureau of Mines 
and the others in the chemical laboratories of the 
Colorado School of Mines. 





Specific 
Gravity 


Minimum 


Average 


Maximum 


Initial boiling point 




50° C. 


65° C. 


80° C. 


Gasoline, to 150° C 


.750-. 850 


5% 


11.7% 


20% 


Kerosene, to 300° C 


.820-. 900 


25% 


38% 


52% 


Heavy oil, residue 


.900-1.02 


30% 


45% 


63% 


Unsaturated hydrocar- 










bons in kerosene 




50% 


63% 


75% 


Unsaturated hydrocar- 










bons in crude shale oil. . 




30% 


60% 


90% 


Asphalt in crude shale oil . 




• 35% 


2.5% 


4.5% 


Paraffin in crude shale oil . 




100% 


5.0% 


9.5% 


Sulphur in crude shale oil . 




•3% 


•75% 


1.5% 


Nitrogen in crude shale oil 




•75% 


1.2% 


2.2% 



G. H. Ashley in U. S. G. S. Bulletin 641 has 
reported on the black shales in the 

Black Shales ' cu t rrn e v 

eastern States. The average oi Ins 

tests by States is as follows : 



110 



OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 



State 



West Virginia 
Tennessee 
Pennsylvania . 

Ohio 

Kentucky 

Illinois 

Indiana 




Average Yield 
Gal. of oil to the ton 



1.40 

5.20 

27.60 

7.10 

5.10 

14.00 

10.00 



He adds an estimate that the oil shale deposits 
in southeastern Indiana contain 100,000,000,000 
barrels of oil. 

Crude shale oil from the Elko, Nevada, shales 
Refining refined by the Wells Process is re- 

Tests ported by W. W. Strickler, Tulsa, 

Oklahoma, to give the following results : 

Baume gravity of the crude 23.2 
23 per cent gasoline of 460 end point 
46 per cent automobile oil 225 vis. at 70 
6 per cent slack wax of 130.5 melting 

point (unsweated) 
10 per cent asphaltic residue with melting 

point of 160/170 

J. B. Jones, Petroleum Engineer, Kansas City, 
Missouri, reports the following results of refining 
crude shale oil from Parachute creek, Colorado, 
by the Wells Process : 

15 per cent Straight run gasoline, 460 
end point 



EXPERIMENTAL WORK 111 

26 per cent Gas oil (naphtha, benzine, 
kerosene, to be put through cracking 
process and produce 13 per cent 
gasoline, 3 per cent fuel, 10 per cent 
loss) 
43 per cent Motor oil — viscosity 225 at 70 
degrees 

6 per cent Paraffin wax, unsweated, 130 
melting point 

8 per cent Asphaltic residue 

2 per cent Loss 

100 per cent 

A refining test of Nevada crude shale oil by the 
Wells Oil Refining Process Company, Columbus, 
Ohio, gave the following : 

GALS. PER BBL. 

Gasoline 

(460 end point) 23% 9.66 

Automobile Oil 

(225 viscosity at 70°) . . 46% 19.32 
Slack 
(130.5 melting point un- 
sweated) 6% 2.32 

Asphaltic residue 

(Melting point 160-170°) 10% 4.20 

Loss ,.. 15% 

The report adds: "This crude requires rather 
careful handling, but by our mot hods these results 
can be duplicated day after day, and the resulting 



112 OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 

products are better in percentages and quality 
than are obtainable from many of the high priced 
crudes." 

Grand Valley oil shale giving 78 gallons to the 
ton refined by the Wells Oil Refining Process at 
Columbus, Ohio, October 7, 1918, gave: 

Straight run gasoline. ...... .19 per cent 

Lubricating oil ..,..■ .60 per cent 

Intermediate or gas oil. ..... .10 per cent 

Asphaltic residue. ... . . — , 5 per cent 

Paraffin wax. , ,. ., 2 per cent 

Refining loss. .,... .,. 4 per cent 



100 per cent 



The gasoline was of 460 end point. 

The lubricating oil was 395 flash — 475 fire. 

Viscosity 410 at 100 degrees. 

The Wells Refining Company, of Columbus, 
Ohio, reports on a sample of crude shale oil from 
Grand Valley, Colorado, as follows : 

19 per cent gasoline, 460 end point 
12 per cent gas oil 

60 per cent lubricating oil, 395-flash 475- 
fire 410 vis. at 100° 

5 per cent asphaltic residue 

2 per cent wax 

2 per cent loss 



100 per cent 



EXPERIMENTAL WORK 113 

A refining test of crude shale oil, distilled from 
Colorado shale, made at the Cosden and Company 
refinery, Tulsa, Oklahoma, gave the following: 

Gasoline . .15% 

Naphtha, benzine, and kerosene 26% 

High grade lubricating oil. .......... .43% 

Paraffin wax (melting point 

135°) , ,8 to 10% 

By cracking the naphtha, benzine, and kerosene 
an additional 13 per cent of gasoline was obtained, 
making a total of 28 per cent of gasoline, and 5 
per cent fuel oil. End point in the operation was 
460 degrees. The loss was 16 per cent. 

As a result of many experiments it is estimated 
that a complete refinery can, if working efficiently, 
give the following average results on crude shale 
oil: 

Gasoline . ., . 25 per cent 

Lubricating oil ,...,. 60 per cent 

Paraffin wax 2 per cent 

Kerosene or fuel oil 3 per cent 

Asphaltic residue 7 per cent 

Loss 3 per cent 



100 per cent 

In addition to these products, there will be the 
ammonium sulphate ranging from 20 to 30 pounds 
to the ton of shale, and about 2,500, or move, cubic 
feet of gas, from which can be extracted from two 
to three gallons of gasoline per 1,000 cubic feet of 



114 OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 

gas, with sufficient high grade hydrogen gas left 
over for fuel requirements in operating the retort 
and refinery plants. 

G. W. Wallace, in an article on "New Lines of 
Thought on the Recovery of Oil from Bituminous 
Substances,' ' cites a test made on a heavy shale oil 

distillate of a gravity of 20° Baume. 
£££n lymer " This was redistilled in the ordinary 

manner of dry distillation. The 
finished distillate amounted to 99 per cent of the 
original oil and had a gravity of 27.9° Baume, or 
7.9° Baume lighter than at the outset. These 
figures indicate that there could have been practi- 
cally no cracking, as ordinarily understood. Ordi- 
nary cracking is inevitably accompanied by a 
separation of carbon and a production of non- 
condensible gas. Neither of these phenomena 
could have taken place in this instance to any 
marked extent, as shown by the high percentage of 
recovery. This case is typical of what is continu- 
ally being observed by experimenters. A. J. 
Franks, Fellow in Chemistry, Colorado School of 
Mines, has offered the suggestion, or hypothesis, 
that the phenomenon may be due to de-polymeri- 
zation, whereby saturatedimolecules of high molec- 
ular weight are split into unsaturated compounds 
of less molecular weight. This would necessitate 
no separation of carbon or gas. In specific cases 
gases might be formed, of course, if any of the 
de-polymerized products happened to be of a gase- 
ous nature, but this is not a necessary adjunct of 



EXPERIMENTAL WORK 115 

the de-polymerization. This hypothesis would 
fully account for the results observed. 

After all laboratory experiments are made and 
all theoretical considerations are given due weight, 
the crux of the whole situation lies in the con- 
struction and operation of a commercial sized 
retort that will produce the maximum of good 
shale oil under commercial conditions. 



CHAPTER VII 

ECONOMIC FACTORS 

If a company were going into the production of 
crude petroleum in the Mid-Continent field and 
were to purchase outright their oil production 
Inv t to-day, it would require, to secure a 

Value and production of 500 barrels of crude oil 
daily, with reasonable territory in re- 
serve, an investment of not less than one million 
dollars. This production will constantly grow less 
and at the end of one year will be considerably 
less, if a large amount is not invested in new 
drilling. At least fifty per cent of income must be 
set aside for operating, drilling, and maintaining 
production, leaving but fifty per cent of income for 
dividends or surplus. Besides, in this case the 
company will not own or operate a refinery and 
has to take the price paid by the pipe lines for 
crude oil. If a like amount is invested in the shale 
oil industry, lands may be acquired with sufficient 
supply for 100 years or more of raw material for 
the production of 500 barrels and upwards daily 
of crude oil. The concern can equip, operate, and 
own a complete reduction works and refinery and 
thereby obtain the wholesale market value of 

116 



ECONOMIC FACTORS 117 

refined oils for a permanent industry, with a 
capacity and output of 500 barrels or more daily. 
The value of the refined products may be from 
three to four times the value of crude oil. The 
complete cost for building and equipping a shale 
plant will run from $1,000 to $2,000 per ton of 
shale handled accordingly as it is equipped and the 
complete or incomplete finishing work done on the 
oils and by-products. A skimming or cracking 
plant can be built at first to make good returns, 
but it is advisable when possible to build more 
complete works, equipped for paraffin wax and 
lubricating oils, for this will greatly enhance the 
profits. 

In 1915 the area of proved oil land m the United 
States was 4,109 square miles. The total produc- 
tion of oil up to that time was 3,617,000,000 barrels 
and the estimated amount remaining underground 
was 5,753,000,000 barrels. Hence the 
total production of oil from the 4,109 an ^ well 
square miles of proven ground would Oil P er 
be 9,370,000,000 barrels or 2,280,360 qua 
barrels to the square mile. One ten-foot seam of 
oil shale, yielding one barrel of oil to the ton, will 
give 15,488,000 barrels of oil or seven times as 
much oil to the square mile as is obtained from 
well oil. In Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming the 
thickness of the shale beds runs far above 10 feet, 
but figuring on this absurdly low thickness it is 
evident that the production of oil from shale to 



118 OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 

the square mile will be many times that of well oil 
to the square mile. However, to delve a little into 
figures, oil shales of commercial value in our 
western States are frequently a hundred or more 
feet thick, so situated as to be broken and run into 
a retort at a very low cost. In Parachute creek 
are three seams averaging at least ten feet in 
thickness traceable in blufTs for sixty-nine miles 
in and out of Parachute creek and its tributaries. 
Take this as a basis because it is plainly visible to 
the layman. Since there are available 15,488,000 
barrels of oil to the square mile in a ten-foot seam, 
in these three seams there would be available 
46,464,000 barrels of oil to the square mile. In 
Colorado and Utah there are 5,500 square miles 
of accessible oil shale capable of producing the 
enormous amount of 255,552,000,000 barrels of oil 
or 27 times the total past and future production 
from the 4,109 square miles of proven oil ground 
in the entire United States. These figures are 
certainly startling; but so are all other funda- 
mental statements about the possibilities of the 
oil shale industry. 

At the present time virtually all available shale 
deposits on Government land have been filed upon 
as placer. They are generally taken 
Sha?e e £and U P i n association claims, i. e., in eight 
twenty-acre contiguous tracts by eight 
locators. Each locator has a one-eighth undivided 
interest in the 160 acres. Annual assessment work 



<" 



ECONOMIC FACTORS 119 

to the extent of $100 must be done on the tract to 
hold the title. The intrinsic value of a particular 
tract may be much or little. If it is situated far 
from a railroad, beyond even a wagon road, and 
without water, it is virtually without present 
market value. If it is accessible, near to transpor- 
tation, with an available water supply, with 
natural benches for retorts and ample dumping 
ground, and the rich shale beds are thick and easy 
to get at, then the land may have a present value 
of from $25.00 to $50.00 an acre and a prospective 
value in the hundreds of dollars an acre. 

The statute of 1897 says: "Any person author- 
ized to enter lands under the mining laws of the 
United States may enter and obtain 
patent to lands containing petroleum oil Shale 
or other mineral oils, and chiefly valu- aims 
able therefor, under the provisions of the laws 
relating to placer mineral claims.' ' The location 
of oil lands as placers was general until 1896, 
when the Secretary of the Interior ruled ad- 
versely. Thereupon Congress, in 1897, passed a 
law re-establishing the former practice. The 
higher courts as yet have had no opportunity to 
pass upon the validity of title to oil shale land 
located under the placer law. 

The well known case of Webb. vs. the American 
Asphaltum Co. furnishes the nearest parallel case. 
In the Circuit Court of Appeals, Eighth District, it 
was held that asphaltum, when it is in solid form 



120 OIL SHALE INDUSTEY 

and is found as a vein or lode, should be located 
as a lode. At the present time no court decision 
has been rendered which involves specifically the 
point as to how oil shale lands shall be located; 
that is, whether as lode or as placer. It would 
seem, however, that from the peculiar formation 
of oil shale deposits they should be located as 
placers. As generally found in Colorado, Utah, 
and Wyoming, these deposits are virtually hori- 
zontal and cannot be said to have apexes within 
the sense that miners and the Mining Act of 1872 
contemplate. Neither can horizontal oil shales be 
said to be in place in the sense that we find deposits 
of other valuable minerals in place when found in 
lode, vein or ledge formation. The shale deposits 
cannot even be said to have a clearly defined hang- 
ing wall, such as is contemplated by the statute, 
since they are not covered by a non-mineral bear- 
ing country rock such as the miner is accustomed 
to find as constituting his overhanging wall, but 
he finds merely an earthy deposit such as is gen- 
erally found in the ordinary gold placer. 

Dividends paid by the three large Scotch oil- 
Dividends, shale companies for a period of years 
Scotland are as sn0 wn on page 121. 

In 1882 the net profit on each ton of shale 
treated in Scotland was, on the average, 89 cents. 
In 1897 the profit was 50 cents. In 1909 the cost 
of mining and manufacturing was $2.06 a ton and 
the net profit 83 cents a ton. 



: 4'- 
' \ 



III 



U 





ECONOMIC FACTOKS 



121 





Broxburn 
Capital, 
1 $1,675,000 

% 


Oakbank 
Capital, 

$1,500,000 

% 


Pumpherston 

Capital, 

$1,650,000 

% 


1895-1896 


7K 
W 2 

15 
20 
15 
15 
15 
15 
15 
15 
10 
10 

7V 2 


5 


5 

7V 2 

m 
iy 2 
i2y 2 

15 
15 
15 
15 
15 

10 




1896-1897 




1897-1898. . . 




1898-1899 




1899-1900 


20 


1900-1901 


15 


1901-1902 


iy 2 

20 


1902-1903 


1903-1904 


30 


1904-1905 

1905-1906 


30 
30 


1906-1907 


50 


1912-1913 


35 


1913-1914 


25 


1914-1915 


10 


1915-1916 


25 







The present financial condition of the four lead- 
ing Scotch oil shale companies may be seen from 
the following figures taken from their official 
reports for 1917-18 : 



The Pumpherston 
Oil Company, Ltd. 



First Preference Shares $500,000 
Second " " 250,000 

Ordinary " " 1,500,000 



Dividends 

6% 
6% 



Young's Paraffin 1 






Light and Mineral \ 


Ordinary Shares $3,500,000 


5% 


Oil Company, Ltd. J 






The Oakbank Oil f 
Company, Ltd. \ 


Preference Shares $500,000 


6 


Ordinary " 1,000,000 


i;. 


The Broxburn Oil f 
Company, Ltd. \ 


Preference Shares $500,000 


6% 


Ordinary " 1,000,000 


Lfi . 



122 OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 

To estimate the cost of production of crude shale 
oil is not easy, since the economic factors in dif- 
ferent localities vary greatly and there 
Estimated . , , « n1 . -, T , . 

Cost of Min- is not as yet any full-sized plant m 

mg and operation from which exact data can 

Retorting ■, 

be obtained. A careful study of the 
cost of mining coal under similar conditions and 
an estimate of the cost of retorting results in the 
following figures, which are based on underground 
mining and are necessarily higher than the cost of 
open cut work. It seems 'that in no property 
likely to be opened in the near future will these 
costs be exceeded. They are based on a plant of 
400 tons daily capacity, treating shale that pro- 
duces a barrel of oil to the ton. 

COST PEK TON 

Mining . $1.25 

Breaking ...,..., 10 

Retorting .35 

Loading and shipping. .05 

Amortization, interest, and over- 
head expenses . . .10 

Estimated cost of producing a 

ton of crude shale oil $1.85 

These costs for mining and retorting are esti- 
mated on the basis of 42 gallons to the ton of 
shale, but there .are several available, workable 
strata at Watson, Utah, and in the Parachute 
Valley, Colo., that will produce from 50 to 100 per 



ECONOMIC FACTORS 123 

cent more. Consequently, in practice, these costs 
per barrel of crude oil produced may be consid- 
erably reduced. Estimated 

The following estimate of the min-. P ost 5* *J*£" 
ing, retorting, and refining is also ing,' and Re- 
based upon oil shale producing a bar- fimn s 
rel of shale oil (42 gallons) to the ton of shale in 
a plant treating 400 tons a day. 

COST PER TON 

Mining , $1.25 

Breaking , 10 

Retorting 35 

Refining by the Wells Process. .,. . .42 

Piping, loading and shipping 10 

Amortization of plant equipment. . .05 

Interest on investment .05 

Overhead expenses 25 



$2.57 
The cost of a distillation plant, with all acces- 
sories, of a capacity of 100 tons of shale a day is 
estimated at from $65,000 to $100,000, according to 
local conditions. If proper plans were made in 
advance for enlargement, additional Estimated 
units could be erected at about one- Cost of 
half the cost of the original unit. The and Refin- 
cost of a Wells refining plant with a ing Plants 
daily capacity of 400 barrels, to include a sulphate 
}f ammonium and gasoline absorption plant, would 
cost from $300,000 to $350,000, according to local 
conditions. All estimates of plant equipment and 



124 OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 

operation should be regarded as distinctly 
tentative. 

The first investigators of oil shale deposits, ten 
years ago, were well satisfied that the shale could 
be made to produce oil in large quantity and that 
the deposits of shale were of enormous extent. 
With well production ample to supply all demands, 
Pennsylvania crude selling around $1.35 a barrel, 
and Mid-Continent crude around forty cents a 
barrel, they were justified in their conclusion that 
there was no justification for an oil shale industry. 
However, since that time the demand has in- 
creased, the supply has not kept pace, the price of 
crude has mounted to a price above the cost of 
producing shale oil and the entire economic condi- 
tions have changed. Consequently, the time has 
come for oil to be produced from shale on a com- 
mercial basis and at a profit. 

Crude shale oil, when produced, will naturally 

first come into competition with the Wyoming and 

Mid-Continental oils. Since the estimate of $1.85 

is conservatively high, the lowest competitive 

price, $2.50 (in the Wyoming field), 

Wenon rSUS and tne m £ hest P rice > $ 3 - 50 ( in tne 
Mid-Continental field), are both well 

above the danger line. If, then, oil shale retorting 
plants were now in effective operation on a com- 
mercial scale there is little doubt that their prod- 
uct would find a ready market at a remunerative 
price. There is, too, every reason to believe that 
the price of oil has only begun its upward course 



ECONOMIC FACTORS 125 

and much higher prices will soon be reached. Nor 
will the price of crude oil alone remain high. On 
account of the present large foreign demand, in 
addition to the strong domestic demand, the prices 
of lubricating oils and kerosene will very likely 
first be affected by the advance in crude oil. The 
shortage in the supply of gasoline is an additional 
factor which will help to advance the price also. 
Other refinery products are also due for an ad- 
vance. All of which will aid materially in placing 
the oil shale industry on a profitable basis. 

The recent coal strike has brought home to the 
large consumers of coal the danger of depending 
solely upon coal for fuel. Already many of the 
large New York and New England manufacturing 
plants as well as larger office buildings are chang- 
ing to oil. Many ocean steamships, as well as 
those on the Great Lakes, are also changing. In 
Chicago all the public school buildings, in units of 
ten at a time, are being changed to use oil for fuel. 
On railroads fuel oil is fast coming into favor on 
account of the low labor cost, the conveniences, 
and the high efficiency. The following railroads 
now use fuel oil over all or a considerable part of 
their lines : Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, South- 
ern Pacific, Kansas City Southern, Western 
Pacific, Northwestern & Pacific, Florida East 
Coast, Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul, Grea 
Northern, Oregon Short Line, Texas & Pacific, 
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, Chicago & North- 
western, El Paso Southwestern, Delaware & End- 



126 OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 

son (Adirondack Division), New York Central 
(Adirondack Division), Oregon-Washington Navi- 
gation Co., Texas Railways, Missouri, Kansas & 
Texas. 

As early as January, 1918, "Petroleum" said 
editorially, "California crude stock is the lowest 
Economic ^ n years. Reduction of crude oil stocks 
Conditions, in California to slightly less than 
Jan., 1918 34 ? 000,000 barrels, the smallest in 
more than six and one-half years, emphasizes the 
strength of the oil situation on the Pacific Coast. 
Several million barrels are regarded as unavail- 
able for use, so actual surplus is smaller than 
appears. Consumption of crude oil by Pacific 
Coast refineries has been exceeding production at 
the rate of about 1,000,000 barrels a month the last 
year or so. In twenty-two months California 
stocks of oil in storage and above ground have 
been depleted by over 23,000,000 barrels. ' ' 

Senator Phelan in the Congressional Record of 
July 29, 1919, said: "The Director of the Bureau 
of Mines would like to emphasize the fact that 
there is no other situation in respect to future sup- 
plies of essential raw materials for the United 
States and in respect to our future trade, which is 
at the present time so important and so critical as 
the petroleum situation. In so far as America is 
concerned, the whole complexion of our petroleum 
industry has changed within the last two years. 
We are now consuming more crude oil than we 
produce, depending upon imports to make up the 



ECONOMIC FACTORS 127 

deficit. Forty per cent of our natural petroleum 
reserves has been taken out of the ground and 
used, whereas we have used up about one per cent 
of our coal. Our nationals have not gone abroad 
to any extent. American oil producing companies 
are to be found only in Mexico, Central and South 
America, and Roumania. The United States pro- 
duces yearly 65 to 70 per cent of the world's total 
production. The increase of our consumption of 
crude oil in 1918 over the consumption in 1911 was 
190,000,000 barrels. We are eating up our sub- 
stance. In view of the extensive use of fuel oil in 
the industries, merchant marine, and navy, lubri- 
cating oils and gasoline, it seems certain that our 
consumption of crude oil will continue to increase 
at a rate comparable with that of the past. Our 
consumption in 1918 was 406,916,000 barrels or 
61,920,000 more than our domestic production. 
The attractive oil producing regions of the world 
have been closed to the entry of America. All of 
these areas with the exception of Mexico and parts 
of Central and South America lie within British 
and French possessions or spheres of influence. 
British and British Dutch nationals practically 
control all the world's petroleum industry that is 
not controlled by our own companies. Great 
Britain and British nationals are alive to the fact 
that production scattered all over the world will 
be the dominating factor from now on and it is 
their plan to secure concessions or other rights 
covering these probable and possible oil producing 



128 OIL SHALE INDUSTEY 

areas. Unless Americans are encouraged to go 
abroad, future oil production will all be in the 
hands of British nationals within the next very 
few years. No greater or more lasting and far 
reaching service can be rendered to this country at 
the present time than securing for American citi- 
zens their rightful participation in the develop- 
ment of all the world's resources of petroleum.' ' 
It should be borne in mind that the oil shale 
industry is not a "poor man's game" in the sense 
that a small amount of capital invested 
will quickly bring fabulous returns. 
On the contrary, it is distinctly a "rich man's 
game, ' ' in the sense that a large amount of capital 
must be invested before there is any return what- 
ever. The smallest unit — and that only as a 
starter — should be of 100 tons daily capacity to 
cost approximately $100,000. This unit should be 
added to, till at least 500 tons a day are reached 
and 1,000 would be much preferable. Another 
phase that should be emphasized is that the oil 
shale industry is a low-grade industry, of large 
tonnage, of continuous operation, with automatic 
machinery, and large output. Workmen need only 
to be "broad in the back." The brains must be 
supplied in the office. The greatest need of the 
industry at the present moment is capital to open 
the deposits, erect retorts, establish refineries, 
organize distributing agencies, and, in brief, to 
establish the industry on a commercial scale and a 
paying basis. The small investor should use the 



ECONOMIC FACTORS 129 

utmost caution before investing in the stock of 
newly organized oil shale companies. The funda- 
mental facts about the industry are so stupendous 
and are so officially put forth that the dishonest 
promoter can easily excite the cupidity of the 
unthinking investor. The investor should investi- 
gate carefully the standing of the officials and fully 
realize that he is engaging in a long pull project 
and that no returns are possible until the plant is 
completed in every respect and operating steadily. 
Underfinancing is also a danger that must be 
faced, e. g., if a company needs $100,000, can 
secure only $50,000, and has a plant only half com- 
pleted, the entire investment may be lost. 



CHAPTER VIII 

SUMMARY 

The oil shale industry has reached its greatest 
development in Scotland, where it was established 
in 1850. Next in importance comes France and 
then New South Wales. 

In Scotland the technical and chemi- 

Ftotures 11 * ca * P r °blems of the industry have been 

carefully solved and, on the whole, 

the industry has been commercially profitable. 

The Scotch shale beds are comparatively thin, 
irregular, steeply inclined, deep, and expensive 
to work. 

The oil content of the Scotch shales is now much 
less than formerly and the shale could not be 
worked profitably if it were not for the ammonium 
sulphate produced. 

The increased demand for petroleum, the 
exhaustion of producing wells in the near future, 
and the enhanced price will result in competitive 
shale oil which will be produced from an inexhaus- 
tible supply of shale by cheap mining and efficient 
retorting. 

The oil shale industry is not, in ordinary par- 
lance, "a poor man's game.'' The technical and 

130 



SUMMARY 131 

chemical problems are numerous and require a 
high grade of scientific ability for their solution. 

A plant of 1,000 tons daily capacity is as small 
as can be operated permanently and successfully, 
as the profits will depend chiefly on the large ton- 
nage handled. In this respect, the oil shale in- 
dustry bears the same relation to the oil that Utah 
Copper and the other copper porphyries bear to 
copper. 

An investment of $500,000 is as small as can be 
safely counted upon to make a single project suc- 
cessful. 

Labor is cheaper in Scotland than in the United 
States ; the Scotch shale produces more ammonium 
sulphate than the Colorado shale. These are the 
only factors favorable to the Scotch shale; all 
other elements that enter are distinctly in favor of 
American shale. 

Oil shale land is primarily acquired from the 
government under the Federal mining laws 
governing placer mining claims. At the present 
time, however, all shale land advantageously 
situated has been filed on or is owned by indi- 
viduals or corporations. 

Oil shale itself varies in different localities and 
in different strata in the same locality. 

The oil shale industry is a comprehensive one 
and embraces features of mining, shale reduction, 
mechanical engineering, oil refining, applied 
chemistry, and the business involved in marketing 
the products. 



132 OIL SHALE INDUSTBY 

Little manual labor is required, as automatic 
machinery does the bulk of the work. 

Variation in the estimated cost of producing 
crude shale oil is caused by the exclusion or in- 
clusion, in the estimate, of the by-products. 
Another cause of difference is the high or low 
estimate of the amount of shale oil that can be 
extracted from each ton of shale. Inasmuch as 
there is known to exist in the De Beque-Parachute 
district a large commercial supply of shale that 
will produce a barrel of crude oil — 42 gallons — to 
the ton of shale and such shale deposits have the 
economic advantages of altitude, nearness to 
water, accessibility, and proximity to transporta- 
tion, one is on a safe, conservative basis to esti- 
mate a barrel of oil to the ton of shale. The 
amount of shale of this grade now available will 
last for many years. 

The early success of the industry will depend 
upon the cost of production and marketability of 
its main products — not upon its by-products — no 
matter how fascinating these by-products now 
appear. 

Black powder will probably be more efficient in 
mining shale than dynamite. 

Some shales contain sulphur and hence produce 
an inferior grade of oil, but Nevada, Colorado, and 
Utah shales are generally free from sulphur, or 
carry very little, and produce a high grade of 
crude oil easily amenable to refining. 

Gasoline from Colorado oil shale does not be- 



SUMMARY 133 

come dark, off-color, or otherwise deteriorated by 
standing. Samples refined by the Wells process 
are known to have kept their color for more than 
a year. 

Crude shale oil is a manufactured oil and con- 
sequently can be kept virtually free from impuri- 
ties. Tests thus far made indicate that the great 
majority of shale oils produced, when made under 
proper conditions, are of a quality greatly 
superior to the oil produced by wells. The quality 
of oils produced from wells varies greatly. Im- 
purities that prove injurious to the quality of the 
oil are present, to a greater or less extent, in 
almost all well oils. The majority of shales do 
not contain impurities to such a degree as to affect 
the quality of the oil produced. Kerogen is the 
oil producing matter in the shale. 

The oil produced from 4.44 tons of shale (42 
gallons to the ton) is equivalent to the heat effect 
of one ton of coal of 11,000 B.t.u. calorific value. 

The heat value of 2.41 tons of oil shale (42 gal- 
lons of oil to the ton) is equivalent to the heat 
value of one ton of coal of 11,000 B.t.u. calorific 
value. 

Colorado massive shale will average IS cubic 
feet to the ton ; when broken, 30 cubic feet to the 
ton in volume. 

A ton of shale (42 gallons) will produce an 
average of 2,500 cubic feet of gas. A 400-ton plant 
would therefore produce daily 800,000 cubic feet 
of gas. Ninety-four pounds o\' coal are equivalent 



134 OIL SHALE INDUSTEY 

to 1,000 cubic feet of gas. Consequently the 800,- 
000 cubic feet of gas produced daily by a 400-ton 
distillation plant would be equivalent to 74,200 
pounds of coal, or 37.6 tons. 

The minimum capacity of a distillation or retort- 
ing plant to include crushing, retorting, gasoline 
absorption, and ammonium sulphate units, should 
be 100 tons daily. The cost of such a plant would 
be approximately $100,000. Additional 100-ton 
units could be installed for $50,000 each. These 
estimates are made for retorts which have a 
capacity of 1.5 tons to the charge. From five to 
six charges can be made daily, resulting in a daily 
capacity of from 7.5 to 9 tons a day. A bank of 
16 retorts is roughly assumed to be of 100 tons 
daily capacity. A 100-ton plant should be regarded 
as only a starter. A thousand tons should be re- 
garded as a minimum commercial size. 

The minimum size for a refinery, to include a 
paraffin wax plant should be 400 barrels daily, 
and would cost approximately $350,000. This also 
should be regarded as only a starter. A refinery 
of 1,000 barrels daily capacity should be regarded 
as the minimum capacity for continuous commer- 
cial operations. One refinery in the De Beque- 
Parachute district, for example, would fill the 
needs of several distillation plants. 

At Tulsa, Oklahoma, the cost of refining is 38 
cents a barrel in the Cosden and Company plant of 
40,000 gallons daily capacity. In a two months ' 



SUMMARY 135 

test run by the Wells process at this plant the cost 
was 27 cents a barrel. 

A plot of ground 200 by 300 feet is sufficient for 
a distillation plant of 400 tons daily capacity. 

Only about 60 per cent of the gas ordinarily 
produced would be needed to supply power for the 
distillation and refinery plants. The remainder, 
40 per cent, would be available for other purposes. 

Ore is crushed, but shale should be broken. This 
is accomplished in Scotland by the use of spiked 
rolls. Spikes 2.5 inches at the base and 3 inches 
long are arranged spirally in rolls and are re- 
movable. In Scotland all shale smaller than one 
inch is left in the mine. American shale breaks 
well. 

Sticking of shale in the retort, in some cases, 
causes serious trouble. Tests show that if the 
temperature is kept below 850° sticking does not 
occur in Colorado shale, but they do stick if the 
temperature goes above that point. Samples of 
Nevada and Utah shales have been tried that do 
not stick up to 1200°. Mixtures of Nevada and 
Colorado shale seemingly do not stick. In Para- 
chute creek the black, rich streak sticks at 850°, 
but if mixed with poorer shale, (35 to 40 gallons to 
the ton) in the proportion of 100 pounds of the 
poorer to 400 pounds of the richer, the product 
does not stick below 1,000°. However, sticking is 
prevented by the introduction of steam, provided 
the steam is injected early enough in the process. 

Crude petroleum from wells varies widely in 



136 OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 

different fields. Crude shale oil is virtually a 
manufactured article. It may be spoiled, in the 
manufacture, for refining into valuable products. 
Also, good shale oil may be subjected to an ineffi- 
cient method of refining and become commercially 
unprofitable. 

In Scotland two men working together produce 
8 tons (2,240 lb.) a day at a cost of 5 shillings, or 
$1.25 a ton. Eeduced to a ton of 2,000 lb. this 
would be $1.11 a ton. The Scotch miner works on 
a seam only 6 or 7 feet thick, hundreds of feet 
below the surface under unfavorable conditions. 
If the Scotch miner, under unfavorable conditions, 
can mine four tons of shale, certainly the Ameri- 
can miner in our shale beds so easily worked can 
produce twice that amount. It is certain, then, 
that our estimate of $1.25 a ton for mining is large 
enough and in practice will surely be reduced. 

The quantity and quality of oil that can be pro- 
duced is variable, according to the skill and intelli- 
gence of the operator, the method used, the type 
of retort, the rate of heating, the amount of heat 
applied, the introduction of steam, and many other 
details. In short, oil produced from shale may or 
may not show good results, from no fault of the 
shale. Good shale, subjected to poor methods, 
may give oil that fails to yield to refining. Hence 
follow conflicting opinions as to the character of 
the shale oil produced and the results from refin- 
ing. Retorting shale and refining oil are not fool 
proof processes. 



SUMMARY 137 

A frequent distinction is made between Ameri- 
can and Scottish shale, as if there were only two 
varieties — one American and one Scotch. It should 
be clearly understood that there is a great variety 
of American shales — as great a difference between 
them as between any one of them and the Scotch 
shale. Hence varieties of American shale may 
require different forms of treatment. 

In Colorado alone the available oil from shale 
is conservatively estimated at 58,080,000,000 bar- 
rels. To produce this would require the work of 
100 plants each producing 2,000 barrels daily for 
800 years. In Utah the supply is sufficient to last 
550 years. 

The value and extent of oil shale deposits can 
be accurately determined by diamond drilling. 

A satisfactory retort for American shales is the 
crux of the oil shale industry. 

One ten-foot seam of oil shale which yields a 
barrel of oil to the ton will produce seven times as 
much oil to the square mile as the average produc- 
tion from proven well-oil ground. 

The United States produces two-thirds of the 
world's output of oil, but this is insufficient for 
her needs. 

The chief elements of a complete oil shale plant 
are: 

a. Mining equipment 

b. Breaking machinery 

c. Retorts 

d. Condensers 



138 OIL SHALE INDUSTEY 

e. Befining and cracking plant 

f. "Wax plant 

g. Sulphuric acid plant 

h. Storage and transportation facilities 

In general the favorable features of the oil shale 
industry are: 

a. The enormous extent of the deposits 

b. The great thickness both of the 

medium and high grade shale 

c. The horizontal position of the strata 

and their height above the level of 
the creeks — a combination that af- 
fords cheap mining 

d. Adequate water supply for the con- 

densing and cooling systems both for 
the distilling and refining plants 

e. Accessibility and nearness to railroads 

and markets 

f. The great richness of the shale 

These features combine to make the oil shale 
deposits of the United States the most valuable 
deposits of their kind in the world. In the minds of 
those men who are best informed on the technical 
and business phases of the oil shale industry, it 
has passed the experimental stage and "has 
arrived. ' ' 



CHAPTER IX 

OPINIONS 

"All the statistics available to me dealing with 
oil production and crude oil consumption, the de- 
cline of the present proven oil territory, and the 
possibilities for new oil wells, lead to the conclusion 
that it is only a matter of a few years Van H. 
under existing conditions until there Manning, Di- 

& rector, U. S. 

must be developed other sources of Bureau of 
hydrocarbon oils than the oil wells terto^the 6 *" 
themselves. These sources are limited Autn <> r 
to high volatile coals, cannel coal, lignites, and oil 
shales. Of these possibilities the oil shales offer 
by far the greatest promise because, in the first 
place, there are tremendous deposits of these 
shales which are easily accessible, and, in the 
second place, because the shales will yield large 
volumes of oil when destructively distilled. 

"In the development of any large industry, such 
as the oil shale industry gives every indication of 
becoming, there is always a considerable interval 
between the inception of the industry and the time 
when it becomes a strong commercial factor. These 
considerations lead me to believe that shale oil 

139 



140 OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 

developments should be undertaken at once and 
that the expenditure of money in material in oil 
shale plants will in no wise be an unpatriotic ven- 
ture. It is high time that some one did the pio- 
neering in this industry and to the pioneer in any 
such enterprise always belongs a great deal of 
credit. I assure you that this Bureau wishes to 
encourage in every way feasible the undertaking 
and legitimate development of the oil shale in- 
dustry. 

"I think you will agree with me that the oil shale 
industry is essentially a low grade manufacturing 
proposition involving the investment of a large 
amount of capital and skillful engineering, as well 
as technical ability, in the erection and operation 
of shale plants. I believe that the large oil shale 
operator with a staff of technical experts will be 
able to operate at a profit under the present 
market conditions and prices of labor, material 
and products obtainable from oil shale, but I am 
even more certain that the small operator will be 
almost certain to meet with a failure. I trust that 
you will take every opportunity to impress these 
facts upon the people of Colorado who are con- 
templating investing in or engaging in the oil 
shale industry. " 

"The question is being asked daily what the 
country is going to do when our petroleum re« 
sources are exhausted. We have as yet urn 
touched our great reserves of shale that contain 
oil. These shales are found in many parts of the 



OPINIONS 141 

United States, and tremendous reserves are 
known in Colorado, Utah, and "Wyoming. Some 
of our shales are much richer than van H. 
the Scotch shales, and are conserva- Manning, 

7 . Director, 

tively estimated to contain many United 

times the amount of oil that has been, fea U e of BU ~ 

or will have been, produced from all Mines Bu- 

the porous formations in this coun- Mines Year- 
ly # book, 1917 

"To obtain the oil from oil shale it is necessary 
to heat the shale in great retorts. The oil is the 
result of destructive distillation and is driven off 
in the form of vapor and is later condensed by 
cooling. As stated above, this process has never 
been used in this country because of the lack of 
necessity, for our oil reserves are great, and it 
would not be commercially economical to invest 
money in retorts for distilling oil from shale that 
would have to compete with the crude oil obtained 
by other methods. But this condition will not last 
forever. In fact, it is thought that it will be only 
a very short time until the oil shale industry will 
be one of magnitude." 

"During the year the Bureau of Mines has been 
particularly interested in the vast deposits of oil 
shales in Colorado and Utah that have been dis- 
closed by the field investigations of the Geological 
Survey. Because of the threatened shortage of 
petroleum from oil holds in the future, these 
shales are considered to be the prim 1 ! pal reserve 
of this country for the future supply oi' gasoline 



142 OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 

and other petroleum products. Consequently, 
much attention has been given to preliminary in- 
vestigations of the richness of the shales, and a 
"Investiga- detailed study is being made of the 
tion of ^ Oil best methods of obtaining oil from 
enth Annual" the shales, the character of the shale 
Report of {\ s an( j f^ e proportions of the vari- 

the Bureau . x x 

of Mines, ous oil products and by-products ob- 
Manni ' Di _ tamable by different methods of dis- 
rector, to tillation. The investigations made 
of the inter- lead to the belief that it is now com- 
fi'cTy^ niercially feasible to work selected 
Ended June deposits of shale in competition with 
30, 1917 ii f rom i} we lls, and that these oil 

shale reserves can be considered of immediate 
importance to the oil industry. Several commer- 
cial plants for mining and treating the shale have 
been planned and the Bureau of Mines will closely 
follow the developments. It is believed these 
investigations have already demonstrated a re- 
serve of oil adequate for all future needs of the 
Navy." 

Mr. Lane said, in reply to a Senate resolution 

regarding gasoline, and referring to the shale 

beds of the country: "The develop- 

Franklin K. , ^ .-, . t 

Lane, Sec- ment of this enormous reserve supply 
retary of the simply awaits the time when the price 
of gasoline or the demand for other 
distillation products warrants the utilization of 
this substitute source. This may happen in the 
future. At all events these shales are likely to 



OPINIONS 143 

be drawn upon long before the exhaustion of the 
petroleum fields.' ' 

"It is true that the Government, and particu- 
larly the Geological Survey, has spent consider- 
able time and money in the last few George Otis 
years in a study of the oil shale Smith, Direc- 
deposits. As a result of the field Geological 
examinations made from 1913 to 1916, purvey ,m a 
it has been clearly demonstrated Congressman 
that the latent potentiality of the oil September° r 
shale of this region as a source of 8 » J 9i7 
petroleum is enormous. It is also known that 
there is locked up in these shales a vast amount 
of nitrogen which can be recovered as a by- 
product in the refining of the shale and used in 
the manufacture of fertilizers and explosives." 

"The day that some company undertaking the 
production of oil through the distillation of oil 
shales in this country proves, through Extract from 
actual practice, that oil may be pro- Letter from 
duced successfully and continuously Smith, 
on a commercial scale at its plant, a unhedStates 
new page will be turned in the indus- Geological 
trial history of the United States. December 
The significance of the first genuine x 9. 1918 
production at a profit is hardly likely to be over- 
estimated. Such a demonstration will tend to 
limit maximum petroleum prices in competing 
areas and to reassure the American Republic as 
to its oil supplies. 

4 'These circumstances justify the interest dis- 



144 OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 

played by the public as well as the companies that 
are honestly undertaking the task of designing 
and constructing plants while the industry is yet 
in its experimental and, therefore, uncertain 
stages. As soon as the oil is produced successfully 
on a commercial scale, the industry is destined to 
expand rapidly, unless interfered with by the dis- 
covery of an important oil field between the 
Rockies and the Sierra-Nevada-Cascade Range 
barrier. Its normal expansion, however, will 
probably not be so rapid as to affect petroleum 
prices especially. 

"Although the conditions of shale mining in 
northwestern Colorado and northeastern Utah are 
in general widely different from those in Scotland 
and France and to a certain extent from those in 
Australia, and though the composition of the 
Green River oil shales undoubtedly differs some- 
what from the Old World deposits, much should be 
gained by the utilization of the experience and 
methods of those who have long been engaged in 
the industry with financial success. In the attack 
on the technological questions of oil extraction, 
the United States Bureau of Mines is extending 
constructive co-operation as well as cordial inter- 
est. 

"Notwithstanding the work done over sixty 
years ago in the distillation of shales and coal, 
the proposition of producing oil on a large scale 
by shale distillation is in fact essentially new in 
this country. The problem is bound to attract 







OPINIONS 145 

more attention as the demand for petroleum con- 
tinues to gain on the supply from wells in the 
United States. 

"The generously encouraging attitude of the 
Federal Government and of the States toward the 
establishment of new industries, and especially 
toward the development of mineral deposits, 
makes possible the perpetration of numerous 
frauds under guise of oil-shale promotion. It is 
the duty of officers like yourself, who are on the 
ground and who are in a position to gather knowl- 
edge enabling you to discriminate between the 
fraudulent promoter, on the one hand, and the 
honest experimenter and developer, on the other, 
to expose the frauds and put in motion the 
machinery which, under State and Federal laws 
is, in many cases at least, sufficient to put an end 
to such business. On the other hand, it is as im- 
portant that honest, well-organized companies, 
with promising plans and methods, should be 
helped by all wise and legitimate means. ' ' 

"The position of the United States in regard 
to oil can be characterized as precarious. Using 
more than one-third of a billion barrels a year, 
we are drawing not only from the underground 
pools, but also from storage, and both of these 
supplies are limited. In 1918, the contribution 
direct from our wells was 356,000,000 bbl., or 
more than one-twentieth of the amount estimated 
by the Survey geologists as the content of our 
underground reserve; we also drew from storage 



146 OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 

24,000,000 bbl., or nearly one-fifth of what re- 
George Otis mains above ground. Even if there 
Smith, fo e no further increase in output due 

United States to increased demand, is not this a 

Sur°ve?. iCal P ace that wil1 kiU the industry? Even 
Paper before though we glory in the fact that we 
inltftute r o C f an contributed eighty per cent of the 
Mining and great quantity needed to meet the re- 
EngfneeS 1 , 03 quirements of the Allies during the 
January, 1920 war? i s no t our world leadership 
more spectacular than safe? and even though the 
United States may to-day be the largest oil pro- 
ducer and though it consumes nearly 75 per cent 
of the world's output of oil, it is not a minute too 
early to take counsel with ourselves and call the 
attention of the American geologists, engineers, 
capitalists, and legislators to the need of an oil 
supply for the future." 

"The investigation, with mapping, of the oil 
shale in the West, begun by the Geological Survey 
in 1913, largely as a measure of preparedness, has 
yielded a volume of information as to the distribu- 
tion, richness, character, composition, and possi- 
bilities of these shales, which is now proving in- 
valuable in the foundation of a new industry that 
is sooner or later to be of very great economic 
importance to the country. The many experi- 
mental plants now in operation or under construc- 
tion for producing oil from these shales for com- 
mercial use should soon demonstrate whether, as 
was expected, the moment has already arrived 



OPINIONS 147 

when the production of shale oil will not only 
regulate the price of gasoline, but will assure an 
almost unlimited supply of that essential fuel. 
Conservative estimates of the quan- 
tity of crude oil that may be recovered ga tion with " 
from beds of shale three feet or more Mapping of 

the Deposits 

in thickness and capable of yielding of on Shale 

twenty-five gallons or more of oil to xhkty^nStk 

the ton of shale (some beds will yield Annual Re- 

as high as seventy gallons) indicate Director 0*1 

that the shales of northwestern Colo- the United 

States Geo- 

rado and northeastern Utah alone can logical Sur- 
produce over ten times as much oil as q^ smith 6 
has been recovered from oil wells in Director, to 
the United States since the first com- oAhe 
mercial oil well was drilled in Penn- Ju te S- or ' f or 

the Fiscal 

sylvania in 1859. What the full possi- Year Ended 
bilities of these shales may be in the June 3 °' IQl8 
way of by-products other than gasoline remains 
to be seen. It is not impossible that new 
products or preparations yet to be discovered 
in the experimental laboratory may be of signal 
importance to the country and may radically 
affect the commercial success of the industry. The 
tests already made indicate that the shales will 
furnish material for dyes, fertilizers, rubber sub- 
stitutes, paving materia], drugs and lubricants." 
"Granted the utmost in the development and 
use of the remaining supply of petroleum, eco- 
nomic pressure from oil shortage will still be not 
far distant. Attention turns, therefore, to sources 



148 



OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 



"Develop- 
ment of Oil 
Shales"— 
"Petroleum, 
a Resource 
Interpreta- 
tion," by 
Chester G. 
Gilbert and 
Joseph E. 
Pogue, 
Smithsonian 
Institution, 
United States 
National 
Museum, 
Bulletin 102, 
Part 6, 1918. 



of supply other than the porous rocks of oil fields 
thus far exclusively exploited in this country. It 
is of great significance, therefore, that within the 
past five years geological explora- 
tions on the part of the United States 
Geological Survey have definitely es- 
tablished the existence of vast areas 
of black shale in Utah, Colorado and 
Wyoming, much of it capable of yield- 
ing upon distillation around fifty 
gallons of oil, 3,000 cubics of gas, and 
seventeen pounds of ammonium sul- 
phate — the whole constituting an oil 
reserve aggregating many times the 
original supply of petroleum." 

1 1 These shale areas will be developed in time 
on as safe and sane a basis as our coal mines of 
to-day. When that time arrives, the 
remains of oil prospecting will have 
fled and the whole complexion of oil 
production will change. It will, lit- 
erally, be oil mining with steam 
shovels in open pits and glory holes ; 
and, later, tunnels and adits. There 
will be no lack of oil products for 
several generations to come, but the 
true oil fields of to-day will probably 
disappear within another generation and be re- 
placed by oil mines." 

"Is the United States facing a gasoline famine? 



"The Oil 
Shale Areas," 
Dorsey 
Hager, "The 
Search for 
New Oil 
Fields in 
the United 
States," 
Engineering 
and Mining 
Journal, 
New York 
City, Jan- 
uary 5, 19 19. 



OPINIONS 149 

Shall we be required to forego automobiling ex- 
cept to meet the stern necessities of war and of 
utilitarian traffic? Are our petroleum fields show- 
ing signs of exhaustion? 

"The output of petroleum has not « Billions of 
yet begun to diminish ; statistics show Barrels of Oil 
that it is still increasing; yet the i^Rockies/' 
downward trend of production from ^ r G t u t y 
the present oil fields is plainly in Mitchell, 

Sight. United States 

"The war has made a sudden and Geological 
enormously increasing demand on the the National 
oil fields of America, and though the ^Sn^ 
industry has never been so feverishly for Febru- 
active as it is now and the output ary ' IQl8 * 
never so large, the truth is that the demand 
has not been entirely met. And the demand will 
be ever increasing, ever pressing. 

"Many of the host of larger vessels that we are 
now building will be equipped with oil-burning 
furnaces, and the vast swarm of airplanes that we 
are building, as well as the thousands of automo- 
biles and trucks that we are turning out, will 
consume an enormous quantity of gasoline. Yet 
no great new oil regions comparable with the Mid- 
Continent or California fields are being discov- 
ered, and it is questionable whether any will be, for 
our oil geologists have pretty thoroughly combed 
the accessible oil areas. What then, is the answer I 

"It is just at this juncture that wo have made a 
discovery that has disclosed what is undoubtedly 



150 OIL SHALE -INDUSTRY 

one of our greatest mineral resources — one that 
should supply the needs of the war, and that for 
generations to come will enable the United States 
to maintain its supremacy over the rest of the 
world as a producer of crude oil and gasoline and 
incidentally of ammonia as a highly valuable by- 
product. We have discovered that we possess 
mountain ranges of rock that will yield billions 
of barrels of oil. 

"For many years travelers going west through 
the Grand Eiver valley of Colorado and into the 
great Uintah basin of eastern Utah have looked 
from the windows of their Pullman cars on the 
far-stretching miles and miles of the Book Cliff 
mountains, little realizing that in these and 
adjoining mountains, plainly exposed to view, lay 
the greatest oil reservoir of the country — the oil 
shales of Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and Nevada. 

"These shales, it is true, were known to yield 
oil. Campers and hunters in building fires against 
pieces of the rock had been surprised to find that 
they ignited and burned, and investigation showed 
that they contained oil. This fact was looked 
upon, however, as only another of the natural 
curiosities of the great West and little or no atten- 
tion was paid to it because of the seemingly 
inexhaustible pools of crude petroleum found 
elsewhere under great areas. 

"In connection with its investigations of the 
undeveloped mineral resources of the country the 
United States Geological Survey has recently 



OPINIONS 151 

made special studies and tests of these oil rocks 
and has brought to light two important facts: 
first, that our Western shales are phenomenally 
rich in oil, and second, that in foreign countries, 
particularly Scotland, much inferior shales are 
to-day successfully mined and worked as a source 
of oil and other commercial products. The indus- 
try in Scotland is seventy years old and is still in 
a highly flourishing condition." 

"In Colorado alone there is sufficient shale, in 
beds that are three feet or more thick, and capable 
of yielding more oil than the average 
shale now mined in Scotland, to yield Winchester, 
about 20,000,000,000 barrels of crude gg^f |°;_ 
oil, from which 2,000,000,000 barrels vey, Bulletin 
of gasoline may be extracted by p 4 a g e ' I4I . 
ordinary methods of refining, and in 
Utah there is probably an equal amount of shale 
just as rich. The same shale in Colorado, in addi- 
tion to the oil, should produce, with but little 
added cost, about 300,000,000 tons of ammonium 
sulphate, a compound especially valuable as a fer- 
tilizer. The industry requires a large equipment 
of retorts, condensers, and oil refineries, as well 
as of mining machinery, so that it cannot be 
profitably handled on a small scale. ' ' 

"During the last year, the United States has 
produced a little over 1,000,000 barrels a day of 
crude petroleum, a total of 376,000,000 barrels, 
according to the government's preliminary fig- 
ures. In addition to this, there has been imported 



152 OIL SHALE INDUSTEY 

from Mexico, about 60,000,000 barrels. The petro- 
leum industry in this country, therefore, used 
during the last year a total of approximately 
436,000,000 barrels. Apply 8.54 per cent of in- 
crease, and one has 37,235,000 barrels 
Walter Clark additional required during the pres- 
X ea |l e ' °^ rd ent year in order to meet the increased 
Oil Co. of demand, based on the actual figures 
ew jersey o £ ^^ eX p er i ence# jf ^g percentage 

of increase continues — and there is no reason to 
doubt that it will — then five years from now (in 
1925), the petroleum industry in this country will 
need approximately 670,000,000 barrels, or an in- 
crease of 225,000,000 barrels as compared with 
1919. These figures give rise to a natural query 
as to where this enormous quantity of crude oil 
is to come from. 

"What is the Standard Oil doing toward in- 
creased production! The producing department 
is planning a most active campaign of exploring 
and development outside of the United States. 
The policy of the company at present is to be 
interested in every producing area in the world, 
provided of course that interests can be secured 
on a basis that would seem to hold out the possi- 
bilities of success, and where the lives and prop- 
erties of American citizens will be respected. We 
are now operating in Roumania and investigating 
prospective oil producing properties in Russia, 
Galicia, and elsewhere in Europe. At this mo- 
ment, we have a party of practical oil men and 



__ 



OPINIONS 153 

geologists in South America and another expedi- 
tion is making preparations for a survey of 
another part of that country. 

"In Peru, the International Petroleum Co., 
Ltd., is arranging for an increase of 100 per cent 
in its drilling campaign, and to the north of us, 
The Imperial Oil Co., Ltd., is most energetically 
developing production in western Canada. It has 
a number of 'wild cat' wells drilling; also, a rig-up 
with a crew in winter quarters within the Arctic 
circle, 1,200 miles from the nearest railroad. ' ' 

The report of 1914, made by the United States 
Geological Survey, under the direction of E. G. 
Woodruff and David T. Day, in TT . , ~ 

. . J ' United States 

contribution to Economic Geology, Geological 
United States Geological Survey, urve y 
Bulletin 581, year 1914, says : 

"The oil shale in western Colorado and east- 
ern Utah constitutes an undeveloped reserve of 
petroleum to which attention was directed by the 
Geological Survey of 1901. The net result of the 
examinations already made is that these oil shale 
areas in Colorado contain a latent petroleum re- 
serve whose possible yield is several times the 
total remaining supply of petroleum. The gaso- 
line content of the petroleum that can be distilled 
from these shales can be conservatively stated in 
billions of barrels." 

The prefatory remarks of Marius R. Campbell 
to the report of Dean E. Winchester, of United 
States Geological Survey, on oil shale in north- 



154 OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 

western Colorado, published in Bulletin 641-F, 
United States Geological Survey, year 1916, says : 

"For several years it has been known that some 
shale of the Green River formation in northwest- 
ern Colorado would produce oil when subjected 
to destructive distillation, but the yield of petro- 
leum from the oil fields was so great that produc- 
tion by distillation did not seem feasible despite 
the fact that in Scotland such an industry has long 
been developed and is to-day paying dividends on 
a, large investment. 

"The United States Geological Survey has 
regarded this oil shale as a great reserve or 
undeveloped resource and one that would be de- 
veloped as soon as demand for petroleum exceeded 
the supply. In anticipation of such an event E. 
G. Woodruff and David T. Day, in 1913, began an 
examination and made rough field tests to deter- 
mine the richness of the shale. Although these 
tests were not entirely satisfactory they tended 
to confirm the general impression that this shale 
constitutes a source of oil which sooner or later 
will be called into use. Of course, no prediction 
could be made as to the date when this additional 
supply would be needed, but the Survey felt jus- 
tified in continuing the geological investigation 
in order that when the time of need arrived it 
would have first-hand information on the richness 
and quantity of the shale for distillation. Accord- 
ingly the field examination was continued during 



OPINIONS 155 

the summers of 1914 and 1915 by Dean E. Win- 
chester, who devised a more efficient portable 
apparatus for determining not only the quantity 
of crude oil in the shale but also the amount of gas 
and ammonium sulphate (fertilizer) that might 
be obtained as a by-product and sold. The experi- 
ments by Mr. Winchester confirmed results of 
the work done in the previous year and indicated 
even more strongly that a great quantity of high 
class fuel is locked up in this shale. 

"At the present time owing to the great in- 
crease in the consumption of gasoline and the 
failure to discover large new oil fields, it seems 
that the day is approaching when this additional 
supply will be needed and the public will demand 
all the information in possession of the Survey 
on the subject. I feel confident that this report 
of Mr. Winchester's will supply much of the data 
needed to establish and develop the oil shale indus- 
try of this country. 

"Mr. Winchester's results, which have been 
corroborated by tests made in the laboratory of 
the Bureau of Mines, show that the quantity of 
oil that can be derived from such shale ranges 
from less than one gallon to ninety gallons to the 
ton of shale. Mr. Winchester, as a result of field 
tests, estimates that in Colorado alone there is 
enough shale to produce twenty billion barrels of 
oil, and it seems probable that in actual practice 
a greater yield than this can bo obtained. \\c 



156 OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 

also estimates that three hundred million tons of 
ammonium sulphate can be recovered as a by- 
product in the manufacture of this oil. 

' ' In 1908, according to Ells, the oil shale indus- 
try of Scotland employed eight thousand men, of 
whom nearly four thousand were miners. The 
average yield of crude oil per ton of shale was 
24.6 gallons to the short ton. The operations paid 
dividends in spite of this low yield. The cost of 
mining shale in Scotland is reported by the same 
author to be $1.00 per ton; the cost of distilling 
crude oil from shale is 40 cents per ton, and the 
cost of making ammonium sulphate from the shale 
is 46 cents per ton. All mining in Scotland is 
underground and in many of the mines the shale 
dips at angles of from 30 to 60 degrees, and there 
are numerous faults which greatly increase the 
cost of mining. At many places in Colorado, how- 
ever, the rich shale has only a slight over-burden 
and can be mined with a steam shovel. 

"In Colorado alone there is sufficient shale in 
beds that are three feet or more thick and capable 
of yielding more oil than the average shale now 
mined in Scotland. We estimate the yield at 
twenty billion barrels of crude oil from which two 
billion barrels of gasoline may be extracted by 
ordinary methods of refining. 

' ' The same shale, in addition to the oil, should 
produce with but little added cost, about three 
hundred million tons of ammonium sulphate, a 
compound especially valuable as a fertilizer." 



OPINIONS 157 

A conviction tantamount to prophecy appears 
in the statement of former United States Oil Ad- 
ministrator, M. L. Requa, in Senate 
Document No. 310, in which he says : Re qu k 

"We dare not retrench. It means 
the slowing down of our industries; it means a 
post-war competition which we shall not be able 
to stand. Europe is organizing for industrial 
competition such as the world has not yet seen, 
therefore conservation under present conditions 
means retrenchment. What is the substitute? It 
must be oil — another kind of oil, perhaps, but a 
petroleum or rock oil. Where must we look for 
it? To the shales and oil-bearing coals.' ' 



CHAPTER X 

THE FUTURE 

Rapid as lias been the increase in the demand 
for crude oil and its products, yet the future holds 

„,, „ out even greater expectations. There 

The Future & . ■ , ■ _ _.. ..^ . 

are now approximately 7,500,000 in- 
ternal combustion engines in the United States. 
In ten years this number will very likely be 
doubled to 15,000,000. In spite of the phenomenal 
growth of the automobile industry there is no 
indication of a slackening. Good authorities 
assert that the next five years will show even a 
greater increase, or fully 10,000,000 motor cars in 
operation. The Ford plant alone will manufac- 
ture 500,000 tractors in 1920. The United States 
Shipping Board has ordered that all vessels 
greater than 5,000-ton dead weight shall be oil 
burners and has contracted for 31,000,000 barrels 
of fuel oil for 1920. France will require 8,400,000 
and Italy 336,000,000 barrels of oil in 1920. The 
potential demand for oil in the United States by 
1927 is estimated at 800,000,000 barrels. 

The normal annual increase in the demand for 
petroleum is, according to President Teagle, of 
the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, 8.54 

158 



THE FUTURE 159 

per cent. Apply this for the coming five years 
and we find that in 1925 we shall need an annual 
supply of 650,000,000 barrels, or an annual supply 
of 273,000,000 barrels above the production of 
377,000,000 barrels in 1919. To make a bad situa- 
tion worse, it is estimated that by 1927, the poten- 
tial demand will be 800 million barrels, and the 
underground supply well nigh exhausted. No oil 
man is optimistic enough to predict that wells 
alone can be depended upon to produce this 
amount. If not, then on what must we rely? On 
our raw material — oil shales. 

Inasmuch as the oil shale industry has been in 
operation in Scotland since 1850 — seventy years 
— and has met and overcome technical, Po ...... 

trade, and economic obstacles, it of the Shale 
seems a mere matter of common sense n ustry 
for the pioneers of the industry in Colorado first 
to follow the well known and successful methods 
of Scotland; to adapt these methods to Colorado 
conditions, and then to improve them as far as 
possible by methods not now known. Besides, the 
production of crude oil, gas, and ammonium sul- 
phate, other possibilities may open, e. g., the 
nitrogen may be reclaimed in a form for use in 
the manufacture of munitions of war; aniline 
dyes and flotation oils may be obtained; possibly 
producer gas, a substitute for rubber, and a long 
list of other possibilities, obtainable from any 
good encyclopedia, but it is simply a matter of 
good common sense for the pioneers in the indus- 



160 OIL SHALE INDUSTBY 

try to focus their attention on the few staple 
products for which there is a general use, a steady 
demand, and a good market price. After this 
portion of the industry is stabilized there will be 
ample time and opportunity to develop the by- 
products. 

What have all these estimates to do with the oil 
shale industry? Simply this. Oil is the fuel of 
O'l Sh l ^ e ^ u ^ ure * Greater and greater de- 
Comes into mands are being made upon well oil. 
Great as are some oil pools, yet the 
average production falls short of the demand. 
The only recourse is to the vast stores of oil shale 
in which lie the potential elements of the future 
supply of oil. Oil shales are found virtually all 
round the world. The demand for oil is now 
strong enough and the price of crude high enough 
to warrant the commercial production of oil from 
shale. A number of plants are now nearing com- 
pletion so that there is a likelihood that the indus- 
try will be on a commercial basis in the summer 
of 1920, or soon thereafter. 

The rapid increase in the demand and use of 
petroleum together with the unsatisfactory pro- 
duction has caused students of the oil 
Situation* situation serious concern. War con- 
ditions clouded the matter. It was 
expected that, with the close of the war, consump- 
tion would decrease, but this has not been borne 
out by resulting conditions. Demand has in- 
creased. Domestic production has failed to keep 



THE FUTURE 161 

pace. The result is clear and certain. Industrial 
life, absolutely dependent upon petroleum, for 
without it not a wheel could turn, cannot depend 
longer upon the uncertain production of well 
petroleum. It must have a source of supply as 
certainly dependable as water or coal, a supply 
that can be counted upon year after year, else 
industrial life will falter. Such a source has been 
unexpectedly found in the enormous, world-wide 
deposits of oil producing shale. 

It is possible that the United States may be able 
to draw upon foreign oil fields for its needed sup- 
ply. Much dependence is placed upon Foreign 
supplies from Mexico, but political Supply 
conditions there are unsatisfactory. To quote 
President Teagle, of the Standard Oil Company, 
' ' The situation is chaotic there. ' ' But the greatest 
obstacle to getting a foreign supply is the pre- 
eminence of Great Britain in the oil business. Her 
public men have long been familiar with the 
necessity of oil for every phase of industrial life. 
They have seen that Great Britain's supremacy 
depended upon oil more than upon any other 
single commodity. It is not too much to predict 
that when the real situation is uncovered it will be 
found that Great Britain controls, directly or in- 
directly, the great foreign oil fields of the world, 
and will take good care that her own economic 
needs are cared for. 

The oil shale industry is essentially one of very 



162 OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 

large tonnage, involving features of mining 
engineering, mechanical engineering, industrial 
chemistry, transportation, and distribution. No 

matter what difficulties may be en- 
CharacTe e r ntal countered in the details of the busi- 
of the ness, the raw material available is 

virtually inexhaustible. "When com- 
mercial plants are once established, there can be 
no doubt whatever of the permanence and con- 
tinuity of the industry for generations. At the 
present writing (August, 1920) there are no fully 
established commercial plants producing crude 
shale oil and disposing of it on the market, either 
in the crude form or through any of its refined 
products. There is, however, pronounced activity 
in Colorado, Utah, and Nevada. A number of 
plants are projected, some are nearly completed, 
and some even are reported as completed, so that 
the summer of 1920 is likely to see one or more 
plants in successful commercial operation. A care- 
ful comparative study of well-oil production and 
oil consumption clearly indicates that the supply 
of oil must in the near future be looked for else- 
where than from wells. The well nigh inexhaust- 
ible supply of oil shale supplies the raw material. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 



The following" bibliography is prepared, not with any pur- 
pose of assuming it to be complete, but with the simple 
purpose of listing the more recent, available, and worth-while 
articles on the subject. 

Adkinson, H. M. 

"Colorado and Utah Oil Shale." Railroad Red Booh, Sep- 
tember, 1918. 
Alderson, Victor C. 

"The Oil Shale Industry." Quarterly of the Colorado School 

of Mines, Golden, Colorado, April, 1918. October, 1919. 
"The Dawn of a New Industry, Part I." Oil and Gas News, 

Kansas City, October 30, 1919. 
"The Dawn of a New Industry, Part II." Oil and Gas 
News, Kansas City, November 6, 1919. 
Ashley, George H. 

"Oil Resources of the Black Shales of the Eastern United 
States." U. S. G. S. Bulletin, 641, p. 311. 
Bacon, Raymond F. 
Hamor, Wm. A. 

"The Shale-Oil Industry," Vol. II, p. 807. American Petro- 
leum Industry, 3 vol. 
Baskerville, Charles. 

"Value of American Oil Shales." Bulletin of the American- 
Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, York, 
Pa., June, 1919. 
"Economic Possibilities of American Oil Shales." Engineer- 
ing and Mining Journal, I, Vol. 88, p. 150; II, Vol. 88, p. 
196. 
"American Oil Shales." Journal of Industrial and En- 
gineering Chemistry, Vol. V, p. 73. 
Bellis, Joseph 

"Expert Information on Oil Shales." OH and Gas Journal) 
Tulsa, Okla., July 25, 1919. 
Bowen, C F. 

"Phosphatic Oil Shales near Dell and Dillon, Montana." 
U. S. G. S. Bulletin 661. 

163 



164 OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 

Branner, J. C. 

"The Oil Bearing Shales of Brazil." Trams. A. I. and M. 
E., Vol. Ill, p. 573. 
Bureau op Mines, Department op Interior 

"Petroleum Investigations and Production of Helium." 

Bulletin 178-C, Washington, June, 1919 
"Bibliography of Petroleum and Allied Substances in 1916." 

Washington, February, 1919. 
"Notes on the Oil Shale Industry." 
Cadell, H. M. 

"The Story of the Forth," Glasgow, 1913. "Scottish Shale 
Industry." Petroleum World, Vol. 10, pp. 228-236, 1913. 
"The Oil Shales of the Scottish Carboniferous System." 
Journal of Geology, Vol. 2, p. 243, April, 1894. 
Catlin, R. M. 

"The Oil Shales of Elko, Nevada." Bulletin A. I. M. M. E., 
June, 1914, p. 1402. 
Chase, R. L. 

"The Oil Shale Industry in Colorado." Mining and Scien- 
tific Press, San Francisco, January 18, 1919. 
Chemical Age 
New York, August, 1919. 
"Oil Shale— Its Possibilities." 
Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering 
New York, January 1, 1919. 

"The Present Status of Oil Shales." 
New York, December 10, 1919. 

"Oil Shales and the Merchant Marine." 
Church, E. G. 
"Manufactured Gas Process of Extracting Oil from Shales." 
American Gas Engineering Journal, February 14, 1920, 
p. 117. 
Clark, Frank R. 

"Oil and Gas in Utah." Engineering and Mining Journal, 
New York, October 25, 1919. 
Coal Age 

New York, May, 1919. 

"G-L Low Temperature Carbonizing." 
Colby, Lester B. 

"Mountains of Oil in the West." The Railroad Red Book, 
Denver, June, 1919, reprinted from Petroleum Age, New 
York. 
Commercial, The 

Denver, October 30, 1919. 

"Early Development of Shale Oil is Assured." 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 165 

Condit, D. Dale 

"Oil Shale in Western Montana, Southwestern Idaho and 
Adjacent Parts of Wyoming' and Utah." U. 8. Geological 
Survey Bulletin 711-2?. 
Cunningham, R. W. 

"Petroleum Refining." Scientific American, Supplement No. 
2285, New York, November 8, 1919. 
Cunningham-Craig, E. H. 

"Kerogen and Kerogen Shale." Inst. Petroleum Technolo- 
gists Journal, Vol. 2, pp. 238-273. 
"The Origin of Oil Shale." Royal Society Edinburgh Proc, 
Vol. 36, pp. 44-86. 
DeBeque, GL R. 

"Incomplete Retorting of Shales Suggested." Engineering 

and Miming Journal, Feb. 21, 1920, p. 523. 
"Oil Shales of DeBeque, Colorado." Engineering and Min- 
ing Journal, January 31, 1920, p. 348. 
"The Bituminous Shale Industry in Northwestern Colorado." 
Engineering and Mining Journal, Vol. 102, pp. 1011-12. 
"The Bituminous Shales of Colorado." Engineering and 
Mining Journal, Vol. 99, pp. 773-4. 
Domville, Senator James 

"Petroleum Oils and Spirits." The Debates of the Senate, 
Ottawa, Canada, October 1, 1919. 
Egloff, Gustav 
morrell, jas. c. 

"Supply of Oil Available from Shale." Oil and Gas Jour- 
nal, August 9, 1918. 
Ells, R. W. 

"Bituminous Shales of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick." 
Canadian Geological Survey, Branch of the Bureau of 
Mines, pp. 132-142, 190S. 
"Oil Shales of Eastern Canada," pp. 200-216; ditto, 1909. 
Engineering and Mining Journal 
New York, September 13, 1919. 

"Investigations of the Oil Shale Industry." 
New York, October 23, 1919. 

"Distillation of Oil Shale in Germany." 
New York, November 15, 1919. 
"Treatment Costs of Oil Shales." 
Forbes-Leslie, William 
"The Norfolk Oil Shales." Petroleum Review, Vol. 35, pp. 
327-328. 
Gavin, M. J. 



166 OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 

Hill, H. H. 
Perdew, W. E. 

"Notes on the Oil Shale Industry with Particular Reference 
to the Rocky Mountain District." Bureau of Mines, 
Washington, May 1, 1919. 
Hall, W. A. 

"Gasoline Can Be Taken From Oil Shale." Petroleum 
Times, Vol. 10, p. 50. 
Jakowsky, J. J. 
Sibley, F. H. 

"Shale Deposits of United States Rich in Oil." Oil and Gas. 
Journal, November 7, 1919, p. 58. 
Jenne, H. L. 

"Oil Shale Deposits, Blue Mountains, New South Wales." 
Engineering and Mining Journal, Vol. 90, p. 407. 
Knight, Betty Y. 

"Shale Oil's Prospects as a Woman Sees Them." The Bail- 
road Bed Book, Denver, July, 1919. 
Lunt, H. F. 
Dalrymple, James 
Dtjce, James 

"The Oil Shales of Northwestern Colorado." Colorado 
Bureau of Mines, Bulletin No. 8, August 1, 1919. 
McCoy, A. W. 

"Oil- Accumulation." Journal of Geology, Chicago, Vol. 27, 
p. 252. 
Mining World (The), Vol. 34, p. 74. 

"Transvaal Oil Shale Deposits." 
Mitchell, G. E. 

"Billions of Barrels of Oil Locked up in Rocks." Nat. Geog. 
Mag., Vol. 33, p. 195. 
Oil and Gas Journal 

Tulsa, Okla., September, 1919. 

"Petroleum News of Foreign Countries." 

October 17, 1919. 

"Alum Shale Mineral Oil to be Sought in Sweden." 

November 7, 1919. 

"Shale Deposits in the United States." 

November 28, 1919. 

"Unmined Oil Supply." 

October 10, 1919, p. 64. 

"Developing Norfolk Oil Shale Field." 

December 5, 1919, p. 75. 

"Wallace Process for Distilling Shale Oil." 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 167 

February 28, 1919. 

"General Information on Oil Shales." Bureau of Mines. 
Oil and Gas News 

Kansas City, March 13, 1919. 

"Shale Beds — Our Insurance Against Petroleum Exhaus- 
tion." 
October, 1919. 

"Information Concerning Oil Shale at Dillon, Montana." 
October 10, 1919. 

"Present Status of the Shale Oil Industry in United 
States." 
Oil News, The 

Chicago, June 5, 1919. 

"The Fuel Problem of Brazil." 
Oil, Paint and Drug Reporter 
New York, July 28, 1919. 

"Shale Oil Standardization Work on Large Scale Planned 
by United States." 
Pearse, A. L. 

"The Oil Shale Industry." Mining and Scientific Press, 
San Francisco, July 25, 1919. 
Petroleum Times 

London, Eng., July 5, 1919. 

"Norfolk and Its Oil Shales." 
August 9 and 16, 1919. 

"Norfolk Oil Shale Fields." 
July 12, 1919. 

"The Norfolk Oil Shales." 
September 20, 1919. 

"Oil Shale Possibilities in France." 
February 28, 1920. 

"The Oil Shale Industry of Norfolk." 
Prevost, C. A. 

"Commercial Treatment of Oil Shale." The Railroad Bed- 
Book, Denver, April, 1919. 
Railroad Red Book, The 
Denver, February, 1919. 

"Some Concise Information on Oil Shale; lis Possibili- 
ties and Needs." By the V. S. Bureau of Minos. In- 
terior Department, Washington, D. C. 
Denver, February, 1919. 

"A Symposium on Western Oil Shales." 
Denver, April, 1919. 

"Successful Oil Shale Operation in Scotland." Report 



168 OIL SHALE INDUSTRY 

of the Directors of the Pumpherston Oil Company, 
Limited, to the Thirty-fifth Annual General Meeting held 
in Glasgow, March 29, 1918, by the Chairman of the 
Board, Mr. Thomson M'Lintoeh. 
Denver, May, 1919. 

"Shale Oils Superior to Petroleum in the Production of 
Mineral Oils." 
Denver, July, 1919. 

"Oil Shale and the Products of Its Distillation, Part I." 
Courtesy of the Petroleum World, London, England. 
Denver, July, 1919. 

"A Symposium on Western Oil Shales." Reprinted from 
the February, 1919, issue. 
Denver, August, 1919. 

"Oil Shale and the Products of Its Distillation, Part II." 
Courtesy of the Petroleum World, London, England. 
Redwood, Sir Boverton 

"The Shale Oil and Allied Industries." Vol. II, p. 83. A 
Treatise on Petroleum, Vol. III. 

ROESCHLATJB, H. M. 

"Possibilities of the Oil Shale Industry." Engineering and 
Mining Journal, New York, October 4, 1919. 
Russell, W. C. 

"Commercial Possibilities of the Oil Shale Industry in Col- 
orado." Railroad Bed Book, December, 1918. 
Salt Lake Mining Review 

Salt Lake City, March 30, 1919. 
"The Galloupe Shale Process." 

Salt Lake City, April 15, 1919. 
"Oil Shales of the Great Uintah Basin, Utah." 

SCHEITAUER, W. 

"Shale Oils and Tar." Scott, Greenwood & Son, London, 

1913. 
Simpson, Louis 

"Oil- Yielding Shales in the Province of New Brunswick." 

Bulletin Canadian Mining Institute, Ottawa, January, 

1919. 
"Present Status of Oil Shale." Chemical and Metallurgical 

Engineering, New York, March 1, 1919. 
"The Importance of the Retort in the Economic Utilization 

of Oil- Yielding Shales." Bulletin Canadian Institute of 

Mining Engineers, March, 1919. 
"The Importance of the Retort to the Exploitation of Col- 
orado Shales." The Railroad Red Book, Denver, May, 

1919. 



— 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 169 

"Recovery of the Nitrogen in Oil Shales." Chemical and 

Metallurgical Engineering, New York, January 7, 1920. 
"Oil Shales." Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering, New 
York, August 15, 1919. 
Smith, J. T. 

"Great Eng-lish Oil Field." Petroleum, World, September, 
1919, p. 365. 
Smith, Geo. Otis 

"A Foreign Oil Supply for the United States." Bulletin A. 
I. M. M. E., January, 1920. 
South African Mining and Engineering Journal. 
January 10, 1920, pp. 397-8. 

"The New Oil Industry of South Africa." 
February 7, 1920, pp. 491-2. 
"Transvaal Oil Shales." 
Stalmann, Otto 

"Notes on Oil Shale and Its Treatment for the Production 
of Crude Oil." The Railroad Red Book, Denver, March, 
1919. 
Steuart, D. R. 

"The Oil Shale Industry in Scotland." Economic Geology, 
Vol. Ill, p. 573. 

SUNDERLIN, E. A. 

"A New Process Treatment of Oil Shale." Railroad Red 
Book, June, 1918. 
Wallace, G. W. 

"A Shale Oil Plant on a New Svstem." Petroleum World, 

Vol. 15, pp. 46-64. 
"An Up-to-date Shale Oil Plant." Petroleum Age, Vol. 5, 

pp. 321-4. 
"Oil Extraction From Shale." Petroleum Age, Vol. 5, pp. 
393-5. 
White, David 

"The Unmined Supply of Petroleum in the United States." 
Automotive Industries, New York, February 13, 1919. 
Also, National Petroleum News, February 12, 1919. 
Williams, E. N. 

"Interesting Angles of the Shale Oil Industry from the Re- 
finery Viewpoint." Oil Weekly, November 1~>. 1919. 
Winchester, D. E. 

"Oil Shale and Its Development in the United States." The 

Railroad lied Rook, Denver, January, 1919. 
"Oil Shales." Journal of the Franklin Institute, Phila- 
delphia, June, 1919. 



170 OIL SHALE INDUSTEY 

"Oil Shales of America." Petroleum Times, London, Ens 1 ., 
July, 1919. 

"Oil Shale and Its Development in the United States." 
Chemical Age, New York, August, 1919. 

"The Oil Shales of Colorado and Utah, Part I." Reprinted 
by permission from Journal of the Franklin Institute, 
Philadelphia, June, 1919. The Railroad Bed Book, Den- 
ver, September, 1919. 

"The Oil Shales of Colorado and Utah, Part II." Reprinted 
by permission from Journal of the Franklin Institute, 
Philadelphia, July, 1919. The Bailroad Bed Book, Den- 
ver, October, 1919. 

"Oil Shale in the United States." Economic Geology, Vol. 
12, p. 505-18. 

"Oil Shales in Northwestern Colorado and Adjacent Areas." 
U. S. G. S. Bulletin 641-F. 

"Oil Shale in the Uintah Basin, Northwestern Utah." "Re- 
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U. S. G. S. Bulletin 691-B. 

"Contorted Bituminous Shale of Green River Formation in 
Northwestern Colorado." Journal Washington Acad. Sci., 
Vol. 9, p. 295. 
Wolf, H. J. 

"Commercial Possibilities of Oil Shale." Engineering and 
Mining Journal, New York, February 1, 1919. 
Woodruff, E. G. 
Day, David T. 

"The Oil Shale of Northwestern Colorado and Northeastern 
Utah." U. S. G. S. Bulletin 581- A. 
Wright, C. W. 

"Oil Shale Deposits Must Be Developed." Oil and Gas 
News, Kansas City, August 8, 1919. 



INDEX 



Albert Mines, 39 

American and Scotch shales 
compared, 67 

Ammonia liquor, 71, 94, 99 

Ammonia scrubber plant, des- 
cription of, 69, 73 

Ammonium sulphate, 17, 27, 
72, 91, 94, 108 

Analysis of shale, method of, 
94ff 

Anderson process, 41 

Arnold, Ealph, early report of, 
39 

Asphalt base oil, 52 

Austria-Hungary, shale, 16 

Australia shale, 27 

Automobiles, increase of, 3, 6, 
13, 158 

Autun, France, shale, 16, 26 

Baltimore, Canada, shale, 38 

Becker patent, 34 

Bishop process, 41 

Black shale of the eastern 

states, 109, 110 
Boghead coal, 35, 39 
Brazil shale, 16, 28 
Breaking shale, 47 
Broxburn Oil Company, Ltd., 

36, 37 
Brown process, 41 
Bureau of Mines, United States, 

2, 3, 42, 45, 82, 92, 109, 

126, 139, 140, 141, 142, 

144, 155 
Experimental work, 82 
Burkburnett pool, 2 
Buxiere Leo Mines, France, 16, 

26 

California shale, 16 
Canada shale, L6, 22, 39 



Capital required, 128 

Carlin, Nevada, deposits at, 32, 
46 

Catlin process, 41 

Catlin Shale Products Com- 
pany, description of 
plant, 32, 42 

Chemical investigations, 107 
108, 130 

Chemijcal principles involved, 
53 

Chew process, 41 

Colorado School of Mines, 94, 
106, 109, 114 
Chemical investigations, 94, 

107 
Experimental work, 106, 109 
Method of analysis, 104 

Colorado shale, 29, 30, 117, 
137 

Comparative value of oil shale 
and well oil land, 117 

Complete oil shale plant, 78 

Condenser, 69 

Condit, I). Dale, investigations 
of, 40 

Consumers Oil and Shale Com- 
pany, 44 

Continental Oil Shale Mining 
and Refining Company, 
44 

Costs : 

Mining and retorting. 122 
Mining, retorting, and re- 
fining, 123, 134 
Distillation plant. 123, 134 
Refining plant, 117. L23, 

Dawn Of a new industry, 1 
Day, David T.. investigations 
ot\ 40, 87, 16 



171 



172 



INDEX 



De Beque, Colorado, deposits 

at, 44, 46 
Decomposition : 
Primary, 57 
Secondary, 58 
Del Monte process, 41 
De-polymerization, 114 
Destructive distillation, descrip- 
tion of, 55 
Distillation, 58 
Analytical, 60 
Heat of, 58, 59 
Comparison with and without 
steam, 60, 62, 92, 108 
Diamond drilling of shale de- 
posits, 49 
Dillon, Montana, deposits at, 

32 
Dividends, Scotch, 120 
Dover, Canada, shale, 23 
Dragon, Utah, plant at, 45, 86 

Economic factors, 116 ff. 

Education process, 41 

Elko, Nevada, deposits at, 31 

plant at, 42 
English Oilfields, Ltd., 21 
Experimental work, 8 Iff 

Field distillations, results of, 

87 
Fisher, C. A., early report of, 

39 
Foreign supply, 152, 153 
France, shale, 26 
Franks, A. J., investigations 

of, 106, 114 
Fuel Administration, report of, 

3 
Fundamental characteristics, 

15, 16 
Future of the industry, 2, 158ff. 

Galloupe process, 41 
Gas, 76 

Composition of, 76 
Heat value of, 77 
Amount recoverable, 77, 91, 
133 
Gasner, Dr. Abram, early work 
of, 38 



Gasoline, 3, 6, 78 

Gasoline absorption plant, des- 
cription of, 70 

Gilbert, Chester G., opinion of, 
147 

Grand Valley, Colorado, de- 
posits at, 46, 83 

Grand Valley Oil and Shale 
Company, 44 

Hager, Dorsey, opinion of, 148 
Henderson retort, 37, 72 
History of the industry, 33ff. 

Early investigations, 33 

Scotland, 34-38 

United States, 38-45 
Hydrocarbons, 55, 56, 57 

Saturated, 57 

Unsaturated, 57 
Investment value and income, 

116 
Italy, shale, 16 

Jenson process, 41 

Jones, J. B., investigations of, 

82 
Juab, Utah, first retort at, 39 

Kentucky, shale, 16 
Kerogen, nature of, 17, 55 
Kimball Creek, exposures on, 

88 

Lane, Franklin K., opinion of, 
142 

Leasing oil shale land, regula- 
tions for, 50, 118 

Location of oil shale land, 117, 
118 

Lubricating oils, 2, 83 
Comparative tests, 84 

Manning, Van H., opinion of, 

139, 140, 141, 142 
Methods of Mining, 46ff. 
Open cut, 46 
Boom and pillar, 46 
Mining regulations, 48 
Mitchell, Guy Elliott, opinion 

of, 149 
Montana, shale, 16, 32 



INDEX 



173 



Mormons, early retort of, 39 
Mount Logan trail, exposures 

on, 88 
Mount Logan Oil Shale Mining 

and Refining Company, 

44 
Mozambique, South Africa, 

shale, 16 

Natal, South Africa, shale, 16 
Nevada shale, 16, 31 
New Brunswick shale, 16, 23, 24 
New Brunswick Shale Company, 

Ltd., 24 
New Industry, the dawn of, 1 
Newfoundland shale, 16, 25 
New South Wales shale, 16, 27 
New Zealand shale, 16 
Nitrogen in oil shale, 56 
Norfolk, England, deposits at, 

16, 21 
Nova Scotia, shale, 16, 22, 24 

Oakbank Oil Company, Ltd., 37 
Oil (petroleum) : 

Advance in price of, 11 
Analytical distillation of, 94 
Basis of industrial life, 3 
Consumption and production, 

2, 6, 7, 151, 152 
Consumption by refineries, 7 
Exhaustion of supply, 2 
Foreign supply, 152, 153 
Fractionation, 103 
Imports from Mexico, 8, 151 
Nature of, 52 
New Uses for: 
Airplanes, 3, 12 
Auto trucks, 3, 12 
Oil burning steamers, 3, 12 
Road use, 13 
Tractors, 3, 13 
Need of, 3 
Peak of production, 2, 7, 10, 

12 
Possibilities of, 139, 159 
Present condition of the in- 
dustry, 1 
Price of crude, advance in, 

11 
Prico of refined products, 12 



Oil (petroleum) (cont.) 
Production, 7, 117 
By holds, 4, 9, 10 
ij.y products, 8 
By wells, 4 
Production and consumption, 

2,6, 7 
Protection of reserves, 2 
Refining tests, 110, 111, 113 
Shale oil vs. well petroleum, 

5, 14, 124 
Situation precarious, 14, 145, 

159 
Wells, 2, 4, 5 
Oil shale: 

Amount to the square mile, 

117 
Amount available, 117, 118 
in Colorado, 30 
in Uintah basin, 29 
in Utah, 29 
Complete plant, 78 
Distribution : 
Australia, 27 
Scotland, 16ff., 34 

Isle of Skye, 16, 20 
France, 26 
England, 21 
Canada, 22 
New Brunswick, 23, 38, 

39 
Nova Scotia, 24, 25 
Quebec, 25 
Newfoundland, 25 
Transvaal, 27 
Brazil, 28 
Sweden, 28 
United States : 
Uintah basin, 29 
titan, 39, 86 
Colorado, 16, 29, 30, 39, 
44 
Garfield county, 29 
Rio Blanco county, 4 4 
Mesa county, 30 
Moffat county, 29 
Grand Valley, 14, 112 
De Beque, 44 
Indiana, 110 
Nevada, 16, 31, 110 

Montana, 16, 32 



174 



INDEX 



Location of claims, 118, 119 
• Nature of, 15, 52 

Origin of, 16, 29 

Phosphoric, 32 

Possibilities of by-products, 
159 

Scotch and American com- 
pared, 67 

Tests, 48, 110 

Colorado School of Mines, 

45, 94, 106 
Dragon, Utah, 45, 86, 87 

Value of shale land, 118 
Opinions of: 

Chester G. Gilbert, 147 

Dorsey Hager, 148 

Franklin K. Lane, 142 

Van H. Manning, 140, 141, 
142 

Guy Elliott Mitchell, 149 

Joseph E. Pogue, 147 

George Otis Smith, 14, 143, 
145, 146 

Walter Clark Teagle, 151, 158 

Dean E. Winchester, 151 

Parachute Creek, exposures on, 
39, 88, 118 

Paraffin base oil, 33 

Pearse process, 41 

Pennsylvania, shale, 16 

Petroleum, Nature of (see Oil) 

Pogue, Joseph E., opinion of, 
147 

Present condition of the oil in- 
dustry, 1, 13, 14 

Prichard process, 41 

Primary decomposition, 57 

Promotions, 82 

Pumpherston Oil Company, 
Ltd., 23, 36 

Quebec, shale, 16, 25 

Eanger pool, production of, 2 

Eandall process, 42 

Eeduction plant, complete, 116, 

117 
Eefining tests: 

By Wells process, 110, 111, 
112 



Eefining tests : (eont.) 
By J. B. Jones, 110, 111 
At Tulsa, Oklahoma, 110, 113 
Average results, 104ff., 113 

Eeichenbach, early discoveries 
of, 33 

Eequa, M. L., opinion of, 157 

Eetort : 

Importance of, 52 
American, 53, 66 
Scotch, 68 

Eequirements for, 64 
Technical, 53, 64 
Economic, 64, 65, 6Q 

Eetorting and reduction, 52ff. 

Eiviera, France, shale, 16, 26 

Saturated hydrocarbons, 57 
Scotch companies, 35, 36 
Dividends, 120 
Costs, 120 
Scotch shale, 16, 130 

Compared with American, 

136, 137 
Deposits of, 16 
Description of, 16, 18 
Production of, 17, 18, 19 
Products, 18 

Eeduction works, descrip- 
tion of, 20 
Scott education plant, 41 
Secondary decomposition, 58 
Serbia, shale, 16 
Significant features of the in- 
dustry, 130 
Simpson process, 41 
Skye, Isle of, 20 
Smith, George Otis, opinion of, 

14, 143, 145, 146 
South Africa, Transvaal, shale, 

16 
Spain, shale, 16 
Stalmann process, 41 
Steam, use of, 60, 62, 92, 93 
Steuart, D. E., description of 
Scotch works, 20, 39 
' Sulphate of ammonia plant, 
description of, 73 
Sulphuric acid, amount needed, 

94 
Summary of field tests, 90 



INDEX 



175 



Sweden, Government Commis- 
sion, 28 

Tasmania shale, 16 
Taylorville, Canada, shale, 23 
Teagle, Walter Clark, opinion 

of, 151, 158 
Testing oil shale ground, 30 
Texas, shale, 16 
Tonnage, 108 
Torbane Hill material, 17, 

35 
Transvaal, South Africa, shale, 

16, 27 
Turkey, shale, 16 



University of Utah, experi- 
mental work at, 45 

United States Geological Sur- 
vey, 2, 6. 32, 40, 70, 
87, 90, 91, 107, 109, 
141, 143, 146, 150, 
153, 154 
Experimental work, 150 

United States Bureau of Mines, 
2, 3, 31, 42, 45, 82, 
92, 109, 126, 139, 
140, 141, 142, 144, 
155 
Experimental work, 82 



Unsaturated hydrocarbons, 57 

Utah, shale, 46, 117 

Ute Oil Company, plant of, 45 

Value of oil shale land, 118 
Volatile products, 35 

Wallace process, 41 
Wallace, G. W., 86 

Experimental work, 86, 114 
Watson, Utah, plant at, 45, 46 
Webb vs. American Asphaltum 

Company, case of, 

119 
Western Shale Oil Company, 

plant of, 45 
West Virginia, shale, 16 
Winchester, Dean E., 40 
Investigations of, 91, 92 
Opinion of, 151, 153 
Wingett process, 41 
Woodruff, E. G., investigations 

of, 40, 153, 154 
Wyoming, shale, 16, 41, 117 

Young, James, early discoveries 

of, 33 
Young's Paraffin Light and 

Mineral Company, 

Ltd., 36 



